In Texas, the largest bitcoin factory in the US will consume the equivalent of half a nuclear reactor

Finally, we are able to enter the inner sanctum: on twenty rows, and nearly 300 meters long, with a deafening noise, 23,000 computers are running at full speed. All the same, all with the same program, all connected to each other, with two fans each. The mass effect is such that the computers cause a current of air, which comes in cool from the outside through cells and is expelled hot into a cooling room and escapes through the roof.

Here we are at Whinstone, in the largest bitcoin mining factory in the United States, in Rockdale, a small rural town in the heart of Texas, between Houston and Austin. Mining is the work of running the huge decentralized bitcoin transaction system. In return, miners get free bitcoins, which makes their fortune: 16 bitcoins a day in February, with a total of 38,300 computers. In total, the company has accumulated 5,783 tokens, a jackpot of about $230 million (208 million euros), with a bitcoin price of $40,000.

The man behind the plant that broke ground in early 2020 is Whinstone CEO Chad Harris, who arranges a tour of the facility. There are seven warehouses like the one we’re visiting, three of which are under construction. In one of them, there is an experimental system: computers have been submerged by the thousands into a special oil, which reduces how much they heat up and increases their efficiency. It is a curious contrast to see these computers immersed in liquid running silently. But that doesn’t stop them from consuming energy. Eventually, Whinstone will grow from 300 megawatts of electrical capacity to 700 megawatts, almost as much as half an atomic reactor. “It’s not a nuclear power plant, but it’s a lot of energy,” says Chad Harris. In these days of global warming, no one cares in Texas. There is abundant gas there, which is used to generate electricity, and Chad Harris turns the energy into bitcoins.

Whinstone CEO Chad Harris poses in the room where the heat created by the equipment is removed. Near Rockdale, Texas, on March 9, 2022.

MATTHEW BUSCH POUR « LE MONDE »

A paradoxical situation

His journey resembles that of America’s adventurous entrepreneurs, where the truth seems more beautiful than any legend. Chad Harris was selling pre-decorated Christmas trees in New Orleans, Louisiana, but in the course of his business he fell out with his bank, which froze his accounts in 2014. “I never missed a payment. I didn’t like having my accounts frozen,” he tells us in a prefab nicknamed “the White House,” which serves as his office. He called his son, a teenage bitcoin fan, and off they went, embarking on the adventure of mining bitcoins, cryptocurrencies that are supposed to be able to escape the grip of any authority. They started their business in New Orleans, but it didn’t take off. Not enough energy, too many taxes, too much bureaucracy in Louisiana. He then looked to neighboring Texas and in mid-2019 saw press reports about the misfortune of a competitor.

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