Another Bitcoin mining epicenter emerges in Asia, and it’s not China

Key facts:

Laos, a neighboring country, provides electricity to Thailand, which is used to mine BTC.

Bitcoin miners from Thailand can earn up to USD 40 per day for each machine.

China’s outpost against Bitcoin (BTC) mining last year sparked a tidal wave that expanded activity to other borders. Thailand, a country located in South Asia, took advantage of the situation and began mining cryptocurrencies based on the low prices of miners.

A report by the Qatari media Al Jazeera revealed part of what is being experienced in Thailand, a country where local entrepreneurs set their sights on the Bitcoin ecosystem and they began to buy mining equipment that was being auctioned in China and then resold it in their country, thus encouraging the activity.

“Local Chinese miners got rid of their machines and the price collapsed by 30 percent (USD 9,000 on average),” Pongsakorn Tongtaveenan, a Thai businessman, told the newspaper.

While right now the prices of Bitcoin miners have returned to USD 13,000 on average, he continues to sell hundreds of equipment in Thailand, where there are already small investors interested in being part of the activity that guarantees the existence of the Bitcoin network.

Pongsakorn, according to this medium, is one of the businessmen who took advantage of China’s onslaught against mining to generate money. At first he did it by buying the Bitmain miners, from the Antminer SJ19 Pro series, directly in Shenzhen, one of the regions where there was more activity.

Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, a new Bitcoin mining epicenter / Source: Turismotailandes.com.

«Bitcoin is the gold of the digital world. But a mining platform is like the shares of gold mining: dividends are paid according to the price of gold, “explained the businessman anonymously.

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Up to USD 120 million per month for mining Bitcoin

The Thai entrepreneur has helped fuel the local mining industry, where most of the participants are small investors operating from home. They can earn up to USD 40 per day with a single machine and there are already at least 100,000 Bitcoin miners in Thailand.

That means in Thailand more or less USD 120 million per month could be generated thanks to the mining activity of BTC, in the assumption that the participants are operating with a single machine.

The interesting thing lies in who are those who operate these ASICs. For the medium, they are those who seek a stable income, especially due to the pandemic. These, added to investors who believe in Bitcoin.

“At the time that China banned cryptocurrencies, we were ecstatic,” said a Bitcoin enthusiast, who is now a miner, and who owns a small solar-powered farm in eastern Thailand.

This miner invested $ 30,000 to start mining Bitcoin and, as he explained, recovered its initial investment after 3 months.

Thailand is south of China, so the movement of mining machines was fast / Source: Google Maps.

Where do they get their energy from?

A close neighbor is the one Thai investors are targeting to pursue mining: Laos. A communist country, ally of China, where cryptocurrencies are proliferating.

Although that nation does not have good internet connectivity, it does have a suitable electrical system. There, electricity is cheap and is generated by dozens of mega-companies distributed throughout the national territory.

According to an expert in cryptocurrency regulations quoted by the outlet, more than 95% of the electricity produced in Laos is manufactured for export. Therefore, they must take advantage of the excess, otherwise it would be “a great waste for the government.” “They see an opportunity to transform that excess into millions of dollars,” he added.

In fact, in CriptoNoticias we reported when Laos authorized the trading and mining of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. It was an experiment that the government of that country could deepen and that could also attract miners from China and other parts of the world in search of cheaper options in energy.

6 companies are known to have a license to operate. To access it, mining companies had to pay about $ 1 million in electricity from Laos’ state grid for a year, as well as large operating fees.

The fact is that, given the geographical disadvantage and lack of human talent, Laos “desperately needs cash in the government coffers and has few options to generate income,” in the opinion of David Tuck, who is a partner at the risk consultancy Lyriant Advisory, based in Bangkok.

Laos dams are responsible for producing electricity for neighbors, such as Thailand, so the arrival of more miners will be welcome, especially due to the new demand of one of the most important buyers.

Bitcoin miners operating directly from Thailand / Source: Al Jazeera.

New epicenter of mining

The impact of China, although it shook the activity of its territory, did nothing more than globalize this activity and allow other countries to become epicenters of the global hash rate.

As already reported, the United States leads the mining ranking, hosting 30% of the world’s hash rate. It is followed by another Asian country, Kazakhstan, which right now concentrates 18% of the global hash.

Other countries, such as Russia and Canada, have also seen growth in that industry. This, in addition to Latin American nations, which have had a key role in BTC mining, such as Venezuela.

The growth of Thailand as a mining point reinforces the idea of ​​the decentralization of the activity, a characteristic of Bitcoin. In the midst of 2022, the development of the industry in this new mining epicenter remains to be seen.