The mastodonte Bitmain has announced its intention via a press release to create a blockchain data processing center and a Texas-based bitcoin mining site for $ 500 million as part of its expansion into the United States.
Bitmain, unstoppable
Nearly half a billion is the equivalent of last year’s nominal GDP of Comoros, islands in the Indian Ocean, in northern Mozambique. It is also the equivalent of one-eighth of the profits made by the Chinese company during the year 2017. Having offices in the four corners of the globe as in Switzerland, the Netherlands, Israel, the United States, United in Hong Kong and Beijing, the behemoth then pointed the small town of Texas, Rockdale, housing less than 6,000 inhabitants to enclave its new blockchain research center.
“Less coal for more cryptos” then seems to think the inhabitants of the city. Indeed, Bitmain is eager to transform the old aluminum plant, Alcoa, closed a decade ago. NBC-affiliated local media, KXAN, says Rockdale is a small town devastated by the loss of the coal industry, due to the recent closure of its power plant last year.
Texas economy can be reassured. The Chinese company valued at $ 15 billion aims to create no less than 400 jobs in the region. During Q1 2018, the company has been a big hit on the web when it confirmed to have generated not less than $ 1.1 billion in profits in the first three months. The construction of the site has already begun and the data center is expected to open early next year.
The United States of America: a key market for Bitmain
Rebecca Vasquez, president of the Texas Chamber of Commerce says, “These high-paying jobs will energize the region, bring in new landowners and increase the local tax base.”
Wholeheartedly, we hope so. Because on the other hand, an investment fund in cryptocurrency has meanwhile declared that crypto mining operations were overall intense in terms of capital invested but rather low in terms of labor force. But then, how many new jobs will be created?
Last month, a position for Bitmain had been posted on the search engine for job listings ‘Indeed’. Not hundreds of them though, but one position for project manager and another one as a site manager for the Rockdale data center. Those were actively sought after by Bitmain.
Since the beginning of this year, Bitmain has already raised $ 1 billion and plans an assessment of about fifteen billion dollars through its IPO in the coming months.
KXAN, Data Center Dynamics, Fortune, Cointelegraph, Businesswire
