Many may be in home isolation or reliving in captivity due to the Omicron variant of COVID-19. In the crypto sphere, however, major construction and travel plans are being drawn up.
Crazy Rich Asians
Southeast Asian developer Hatten Land Limited, has announced that its subsidiary, Hatten Edge Pte. Ltd. agreed with SMI CS Pte. Ltd., to build over 1,000 crypto mining rigs in Melaka, Malaysia. Furthermore, the final number of mining rigs could be even higher.
The official press release states,
“The pilot phase of the first 50 sets of crypto mining rigs will start operating by the end of January 2022 and an additional 1,500 mining rigs will be delivered and installed between February and March of this year. 2022 with SMI’s option to provide 1,000 more crypto mining rigs in 2022”
It’s time for Ma-LAY to take down the law
Malaysia is well known in the Bitcoin mining industry for its relatively cheap electricity prices, where electricity prices for businesses are around $0.092/kWh. Compare this to the US, where the same is reported to be around $0.125. Meanwhile, the price of 1 BTC mining electricity in Malaysia is between $10,000 and $20,000 — or even lower in some regions — according to a report by Arcane Research.
On the other hand, this privilege has led to an increase in the number of unlicensed cryptocurrency miners who are siphoning energy for their own operations. The Malaysian government is very strict against such offenders, given the severity of “electrical theft” and the risk of power outages or even fire accidents. Proving their tough stance, authorities destroyed more than 1,000 cryptocurrency mining rigs in 2021.
Currently, there are ambitious plans for cryptocurrency mining in the country at the institutional level. While Malaysia’s electricity prices are attractive, its tropical climate is a factor of concern. Undoubtedly, both crypto watchers and environmentalists will be watching the news to see if the Southeast Asian country has a chance to capture more of the global hash rate.
You did the “Nasi” that is coming
Cambridge’s Bitcoin Power Consumption Index shows that Malaysia’s hash rate has fluctuated over the past year, which could also be related to high-profile raids on crypto mining equipment.
In August 2021, the country’s average hash rate was 4.59%. If Hatten Land’s plans go as planned, then Hatten Land’s stats may soon appear in the 2022 stats.