10/25 Tuesday afternoon.
Bitfarms hosts an open house in a large "barn" labeled with "Advanced General Contractors".
Moses Lake is one of their dozen sites, the only one in west US.
Bitfarms is a Toronto-based Bitcoin mining company.
WTIA (Washington Technologe Indusctry Association) paid for 2 shuttle buses, one from Seattle, one from Portland, each with about 8-9 passengers.
The Seattle shuttle was rescheduled from noon to 11:30, as our orgnizer said that she wants to arrive at 3pm, when the event starts.
We waited at least 15 minutes for her husband and father to show up.
Then, she decided that we'll stop at McDonald for take-out. Why?
Of course, we are the last people who arrived.
A few Bitfarm empolyees and their family (including a 10 week baby) were also in attendence.
Catered reception with drink and food by Bitfarms. Quite a lot of food, and pretty good.
CEO L Geoffrey Morphy welcomes everyone, and expressed his commitment to and gratitude of the local community.
Dennis Porter of Satoshi Action Fund spoke next, emphasizing that the mining is good for the community, using "otherwise-wasted" electricity.
Senetor Judy Warnick spoke last.
She expressed her welcome to new tech into her community. She is from Moses Lake.
A little after 4pm, we were taken to the server rooms to see the machines, in groups of 10.
Very loud and windy: fans trying to circulate the cold air from outside.
The empolyees have a phone app that can pinpoint which machine (row/rack) is in green/yellow/red state.
Looks like a 24/7 operation, defintely power hunger, not using "wasted electricity".
I asked what they do in summer to cool down. Answer: run at low capacity.
Air is their only cooling method, and they only mine Bitcoin.
Around 5:30, we left. The two shuttles decided to stop at Porterhouse for a stake dinner. Why? I didn't bother, since I was full. We didn't leave until 8pm, which get to Seattle at 11pm. A long day.
