Compass Mining, a Bitcoin mining hosting and brokerage services firm based in Delaware, US, announced the completion of a partnership with colocation provider Compute North to secure at least 75 megawatts (MW) of energy capacity for its TIER 0™ data center in Granbury, Texas.
The agreement with the colocation provider also includes the ability to expand Granbury’s additional colocation capacity from 300 MW to 600 MW.
Officially released reports say that miner installations will begin in August 2022 and continue for several months.
The announcement added that the company will deploy 25,000 ASICs at the Wolf Hollow factory, including next-generation bitcoin miners such as the Antminer S19XP, Antminer S19j Pro, and Whatsminer M30S++,
According to Compass, the facility is listed as one of the cleanest in its class because it is powered by a 1.1 gigawatt (GW) combined cycle natural gas-fueled power plant and uses an advanced gas turbine design and air cooling to Reduce carbon emissions and reliance on water.
The company said it will actively respond to the Electric Reliability Commission of Texas (ERCOT) policy by shutting down equipment and bringing stable energy loads when local users need the grid on a large scale.
Compass Mining offers a marketplace service for individual people to mine Bitcoin in facilities across Canada and the U.S.
On April 25 this year, Compass Mining, an American cryptocurrency mining firm said it was looking for buyers for its gears stranded in Russia in a bid to avoid being sanctioned by the United States Department of Treasury.
Compass Mining, an American cryptocurrency mining firm, is looking for buyers for its gears stranded in Russia in a bid to avoid being sanctioned by the United States Department of Treasury.
According to a Bloomberg report, citing Compass Mining’s Chief Executive Officer, Whit Gibbs, the mining facility it operates in Siberia hosts about 12 megawatts of capacity.
Compass Mining hosts a data centre that houses mining machines for its diverse clients worldwide. Each of its clients has an average of 5 devices that it is managing for them. The price tag on the pieces of mining equipment in the Russian region is pegged at $30 million, and Gibbs is hoping that he would recover most of the value of the assets, which will then be redistributed to the owners.
The company is searching for buyers in Russia, seeing it will not be able to ship out the mining gears per the broad sanctions, which also affect the global supply chain connecting Russia. According to the Bloomberg report, the urgency to sell off the assets became necessary when the Treasury Department sanctioned BitRiver, a Switzerland-based crypto mining firm, for its operations in Russia.
While the Treasury’s sanctions have been criticised by BitRiver’s CEO, Igor Runets, who believes the sanctions are unfortunate and are an attempt to “change the global balance of power in favour of American companies,” Gibbs will not want to be a scapegoat for other American outfits to learn from.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has stirred a lot of negative reactions for the former nation, which has remained adamant concerning calling off the ongoing war. From financial companies like Mastercard and Visa to crypto mining pools like FlexPool, the caution being taken by Compass Mining will prevent it from falling into the crosshairs with the Feds, a move that is necessary to power its future growth plans.
Does the Compass Mining CEO know something we don’t? Is The United States mining Bitcoin? Whit Gibbs was a guest in a recent episode of Anthony Pompliano’s “The Best Business Show” and spilled the beans… or did he? The host cleverly disguised his question by talking about other countries following El Salvador’s footsteps and starting mining Bitcoin. He also mentioned Venezuela and other not-friendly to the U.S. countries already doing it. Then, he asked point-blank, what would it take for their country to start mining?
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“The United States is already mining,” Gibbs answered. And then softened the blow with a “Maybe.” If true, this is huge. And the implications are even greater. “They might have like 10 or 20 watts running somewhere in the midwest to test it out. Maybe. It’s hypothetically speaking. But, it’s a matter of national security.” Was that hypothetical? Or was the Compass Mining CEO giving us inside information? That’s what we’ll try to figure out.
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But first, here’s the video:
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What Does The Compass Mining CEO Know?
Well, for starters, he knows Bitcoin is the hardest asset ever created. “When it comes to mining, when you’re talking about what Bitcoin is, whether it’s a store of value, it’s a medium of exchange. It’s the future financial instrument that many, many things are going to be built on top of. Nations would have to be absolutely out of their mind to not be getting some exposure to the underlying infrastructure which supports it.”
So, it’s safe to say that the Compass Mining CEO is bullish on Bitcoin. Why do we think he might know something the rest of the world doesn’t, though? Gibbs continues, “So, the US I think is on the front foot. We’ve had a lot of conversations with the government in DC, state governments, to help educate them, but they are very forward-thinking when it comes to supporting this.”
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So, does the Compass Mining CEO know something we don’t? Is The United States mining Bitcoin already?
Gibbs completes the idea by saying that El Salvador is showing the way to countries that are not at the forefront and, historically, have been hurt by the current system. They now know that being early to Bitcoin can make a huge impact and “get them there.”
BTC price chart for 12/03/2021 on FTX | Source: BTC/USD on TradingView.com
Other Countries That Are Already Mining Bitcoin
Story Time With Pomp And Gibbs. The host senses that the guest knows something and tries to get it out of him. Pompliano shares a story with him: he knows that in 2012-2013 a Federal law enforcement agency was mining Bitcoin. The rationale was that they couldn’t get a budget approved to buy Bitcoin at exchanges to fund black/ undercover operations. So, they filled papers to get computers instead and started mining. The Bitcoin they got was untraceable, it had no history. And they used it to run operations.
Then, it was Gibbs’ turn. “So, this is how you get in trouble,” the Compass Mining CEO answered. Cleverly, he shifted the focus from the U.S. to other countries. According to Gibbs, a North African country that’s a hotspot for the United States is getting into Bitcoin Mining. This is happening at the presidential level.
Related Reading | Bitcoin Mining In The U.S.: 4 States Attract The Most Miners
Also, he lives in Latvia. A very close neighbor of Latvia, “that may have stopped a plane no too long ago, to remove a journalist,” is already mining Bitcoin with nuclear power. The Compass Mining CEO closes his stellar presentation with, “I don’t believe that they’re mining Bitcoin to skirt sanctions. I believe that they’re mining Bitcoin because they see it as the future, and they want to boost their economy, they want to grow.”
You read it here first, Bitcoin is the future and many world leaders know it.
Featured Image by Christopher Skor on Unsplash - Charts by TradingView
The Navajo Nation’s Bitcoin story might be the most wholesome of the last few months. The mine isn’t only providing employment within the reservation, it’s helping them transition from providing coal-powered energy to renewables. Another case study that proves Bitcoin incentivizes and funds green energy. Another story of Bitcoin helping the disenfranchised people of the world to find their footing.
Related Reading | New To Bitcoin? Learn To Trade Crypto With The NewsBTC Trading Course
How disenfranchised are the Navajo? “The Federal Government took away all the land rights away from the Navajo people,” says a disembodied voice in the Compass Mining mini-documentary. According to it, among the Nation:
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48% are unemployed
40% live without running water
32% live off the grid
33% live below the poverty line
“But the Navajo are resilient people who’ve claimed the desert Southwest as home since time immemorial,” said directorWill Foxley via Twitter. And now, they have Bitcoin on their side.
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The First Bitcoin Mine In Navajo Territory
The audiovisual piece comes withthis text as a companion, which tells the story of how the first Bitcoin mine came to be:
“In 2017, a small Canadian firm named West Block approached the Navajo about building a mine on Navajo land. At 8 megawatts (MW) in size after the initial round, the Navajo invested in an equity stake in the mine during the bear market of 2018. Three years later, Bitcoin mining has turned a corner to become one of the most profitable sectors of Bitcoin itself.”
Apparently, 58% of the mine’s energy already comes from the depicted solar farm. “The Bitcoin mine is incentivizing renewables to be built on Navajo country to replace coal,” says the mini-documentary’s narrator. Foxley claims that “the Bitcoin mine uses Navajo energy on Navajo land for Navajo employment.” However, the text states that “The Navajo chose to divest themselves at a profit.” The move was positive because it ended up “placing the money back Navajo peoples hands with investments into the public utilities.”
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Not only that, the mine uses renewable energy from the abundant Navajo sun. Nearby cities used to take Navajo energy (coal) off the reservation.
But the Bitcoin mine uses Navajo energy on Navajo land for Navajo employment. pic.twitter.com/NZUwigZ4vP
— Will Foxley 🧭 (@wsfoxley) November 4, 2021
The Navajo Nation’s Transition To Clean Energy
In the past, the Navajo have had their runnings with dirty forms of energy. The text summarizes it with.
“The Navajo story of the 20th century is fraught with energy abuse, including malpractice in coal and uranium extraction for people off the reservation. Today’s generation of Navajo continue to live with these negative externalities, such as heightened levels of radiation in well water.”
However, as the world is trying to phase out coal-powered energy, the Navajo innovate to keep up with the times. According to Walter Hasse, Navajo Tribal Utility Authority president, “I had excess electricity that I still had to pay for and deal with. Now, I want to build renewable energy to replace my lost coal resources that are throughout the nation. I need someone to consume that renewable energy resource.”
Who could consume that energy,? we wonder. What industry is mobile enough to move to the desert and start making money for everyone around right away? Well, the mini-documentary is all about exactly that phenomenon.
BTC price chart for 11/06/2021 on CEXIO | Source: BTC/USD on TradingView.com
Jobs For The Navajo People
Traditionally, the Navajo don’t want to leave the reservation. However, there are not many employment choices there. That was before Bitcoin.According to Foxley, the mine now hosts around 3,000 machines. According to the text, “The facility currently employs two full-time employees. With the expansion, that number will grow to eleven. That money then flows from the mine into local jobs creating even more buzz.” Not only that, the documentary’s narrator promises “more mines scheduled to come online in the coming months.”
Related Reading | Bitcoin Mining Vs. The World: BTC Leads Sustainable Energy
Considering a mining company commissioned both the audiovisual piece and the text, we could assume who’s behind those “more mines scheduled.”And we salute them.
Featured Image: Screenshot from the mini-documentary | Charts by TradingView
Discussing Bitcoin mining accessibility for the masses with Whit Gibbs of Compass Mining.
Watch This Episode On YouTube
Listen To This Episode:
In this episode of “The Bitcoin Magazine Podcast,” host Christian Keroles was joined by Whit Gibbs, the cofounder and CEO of Compass Mining. Compass Mining’s mission is to support hash rate growth and network security by making Bitcoin mining accessible for more people. Keroles and Gibbs explored Gibbs’ journey into Bitcoin, his experience building a Bitcoin company, the future of Bitcoin mining, and much more!
The bitcoin-first, proof-of-work mining company has launched a new service to bring bitcoin mining to U.S. households on demand.
Bitcoin-first company Compass Mining announced today the launch of At-Home Mining. This direct-to-consumer service provides customers with the ability to mine bitcoin from their own homes. Clients that hire the service will have an ASIC machine delivered to their door within three weeks and customer support available to help them install the rig.
“Bitcoin was started by home miners and now we are seeing a renaissance of home mining,” said Thomas Heller, the chief business officer of Compass Mining. “We are proud of the work we have put into making Compass an industry leader and we are confident this new offering will bring more people into bitcoin mining, which is good for the community as a whole.”
Indeed, in 2009, 2010, and 2011, people could mine bitcoin with regular laptops at home. It wasn’t until the first ASIC machine was introduced in 2012 that that began to change. Since then, bitcoin mining has become more institutionalized by the year, leaving retail miners out of the equation. With its newest service, Compass is taking a shot towards re-enabling regular folks to mine bitcoin from the comfort of their homes without having to pay additional hosting facility fees.
“As Compass continues to expand the services we offer, we are continuously looking to make bitcoin mining accessible for everyone. With At-Home Mining, we are bringing bitcoin mining back to its roots,” said Whitney Gibbs, CEO of Compass. “While industrial mining operations and retail miners primarily use Compass to help them secure space in one of our 23 hosting facilities around the world, we have found that there is significant interest from our customer base to set up operations in their own home. By creating this new product line, it gives more flexibility and options of where to host their machine and mine bitcoin.”
Compass said sales have already gone live today, and customers who opt-in to the service can expect the hardware to arrive within two to three weeks of purchase. The company also highlighted that its support team would assist customers after their purchase. However, the At-Home Mining service is currently only available to U.S. customers.
Through the facilitation of the Human Rights Foundation, Compass has committed to a one-year donation of $80,000 to Jon Atack.
Through the Human Rights Foundation (HRF), Compass Mining has announced their newest commit to sponsor Bitcoin Core contributor, Jon Atack, with a one year donation worth $80,000.
Atack began his contributions to Bitcoin Core over two years ago in March 2019, reviewing code, discovering bugs, and testing fixes all while proving himself as a prolific code author. And after providing lots of value, it wasn’t too long until he joined the Bitcoin Core developers team later that year in November.
“Without contributors like Jon, the speed and quality of Bitcoin’s development would noticeably suffer. Our entire team is excited to build a relationship with Jon and support his important work,” said Compass CEO Whit Gibbs. “As the largest and fastest growing retail-focused bitcoin mining companies, we believe it’s essential for Compass to support the development of the protocol our entire industry is built on.”
The HRF, a non-profit organization who helped facilitate the sponsorship, has sponsored others in the Bitcoin space in the past such as Spector, Lot49, Calvin Kim, Ecosystem Grants, and Jesse Posner, Muun Wallet, Janine Roem and Blockchain Commons, and six other Bitcoin projects, including developers and Lightning apps.
“HRF is delighted to work with Compass to support Jon and Bitcoin Core,” said Alex Gladstein, Chief Strategy Officer at HRF. “Jon has been a vital contributor to the world’s open source money project and we look forward to helping make his work possible this year.”
Compass now joins the only other two bitcoin mining companies (Braiins and Marathon Digital Holdings) to sponsor a Bitcoin Core developer to help develop this open monetary system. Antminer has also supported Bitcoin Core developers in the past, but none at the moment.
