Argentina Will Promote Large-Scale Bitcoin Mining

27,000 Bitcoin miners will be installed in the province of Córdoba in the southern part of the country this year.
The Bitfarms company plans to create BTC farms with state-of-the-art equipment in Argentina and Paraguay.
If the project materializes as planned, both countries will become South American mining powerhouses.

The Bitfarms company, the developer of the Bitcoin farm project in Argentina and Paraguay, announced the installation of thousands of pieces of mining equipment during the presentation of its financial report for the fourth quarter of 2021 this week.

The two countries have been chosen by the company as the spearhead for a large-scale BTC mining project in the coming years. In Paraguay, the installation of Bitcoin farms powered by hydroelectric energy began in January.

While in Argentina, facilities are being built that will house some 27,500 Whatsminer M30S, BTC mining equipment that is currently among the most powerful in the specialized hardware market.

This equipment, produced by the manufacturer MicroBT, has a processing capacity of up to 88 terahashes per second (TH/s). The 27,500 computers that the company plans to install in Argentina will add 2.42 exahashes per second (EH/s) of power.

Increase in Installed Mining Capacity

In Argentina, Bitfarms aims to reach approximately 1% of the entire Bitcoin hashrate (206 EH/s) worldwide. The hashrate represents the power of the network to solve proof-of-work puzzles, confirm cryptocurrency transactions, and ensure network security from potential attackers. In exchange, the BTC miners receive a reward.

Argentina is expected to become one of the countries with the highest Bitcoin mining capacity by the end of the year. Currently, the country is contributing 0.05% of the BTC hashrate, according to a report from the University of Cambridge.

Bitfarms is currently building two large mining farms that are located in Río Cuarto, a city in the province of Córdoba. The two farms will be ready to operate in the last quarter of the year and will have an electrical consumption of 100 MW.

There are two other farms still to be built that will consume the rest of the contracted energy, but the company has not yet revealed their location.

On the Flipside

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) asked the Argentine government to take measures to discourage the use of BTC and other cryptocurrencies as part of the debt agreement recently signed with the financial institution.
Several Argentine provinces have increased regulations and taxes on Bitcoin.

Another risk is that the excessive use of hydroelectric energy in Bitcoin mining causes blackouts in the province of Córdoba. However, Bitfarms signed an 8-year contract with a private supplier for the supply of energy derived from natural gas.

The company will have at its disposal an installed electric power capacity of 210 megawatts (MW). This power is equivalent to all the electricity consumed by about 100 Argentine households for a year.

Why You Should Care

Mining companies are looking for friendly territories and regulations for the installation of large mining farms. Argentina and Paraguay have so far been receptive to the industry. But this could change, at least in Argentina.