Bitcoin miners lose power in Iceland

NordenBladet — Bitcoin miners in Iceland have recently had their power cut by Landsvirkjun, the National Iceland electrical company Land, due to a variety of issues at a power station.

According to a representative at Landsvirkjun, a series of issues, including a problem at a power station, low hydro-reservoir levels and accessing energy from an external supplier, have caused a reduction in energy allocations to southwestern Bitcoin miners.

The three main Bitcoin mining companies that have facilities in the country comprise of Hive Blockchain Technologies, Genesis Mining and Bitfury Holding.

For just under a decade, Bitcoin miners have been seeking the benefits of environmentally friendly Bitcoin mining in Iceland. Cloud Hashing moved around 100 Bitcoin miners to the country in 2013. Then in 2017, Austria’s HydroMiner GmbH raised just under $3 million to install mining rigs directly attached to Icelandic power plants.

Due to Iceland’s abundance of geothermal energy, Bitcoin miners have been attracted to the country for its cheap renewable energy supply.