Cryptocurrencies
Russia’s Largest Bitcoin Mine Turns Water Into Cash
Power-hungry crypto mining has found an ideal home in the city of Bratsk, where the weather is cold and the electricity is cheap.
Bitriver, the largest data center in the former Soviet Union, was opened just a year ago, but has already won clients from all over the world, including the U.S., Japan and China. Most of them mine bitcoins.
The company rents a building near the Bratsk aluminium plant. The world’s single largest aluminum smelter was built by the USSR in 1960s along with the nearby hydropower plant as energy is the largest cost in aluminium smelting.