ERSO educates students about cryptocurrency mining
17.02.2023
The students learned what the advantages of digital money are, in which region of Russia it is profitable to mine them, and what risks investors face when investing in this industry.
Every year, digitalization is becoming more and more dense in our lives. For the majority of the population, the terms “bitcoin” or “mining”, although they have not yet become everyday words, can no longer be called exotic. Especially for young people who are actively interested in the topic of cryptocurrencies.
ERSO holding within the walls of the Ufa State Oil Technical University organized a lecture on the topic “Development of the power grid infrastructure for blockchain projects and cryptocurrency mining”. The speaker for the students of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Electrical Equipment of Enterprises was the Director for Design Works of ERSO, Candidate of Technical Sciences Ilya Usov.
“On the one hand, cryptocurrency has several advantages,” Usov explained. - This is anonymity, the absence of intermediaries between the seller and the buyer, relative safety (it is difficult to fake a digital "coin"). The disadvantages include, firstly, the dependence on supply and demand. For example, the exchange rate of bitcoin was once a little more than a dollar, then it rose to $300, then to $17,000, then dropped sharply to $6, then rose again, etc.”
Now the price of bitcoin has fallen again many times over. So, at the beginning of November 2021, it cost almost 68 thousand dollars, at the moment its cost fluctuates around 20 thousand dollars. Usov also attributed the complexity factor of cryptocurrency as a means of accumulation to the minuses.
Gone are the days when you could mine with your home computer. Now this process is carried out by powerful specialized equipment located in data processing centers (data centers). And this requires a huge amount of electricity.
“What are the advantages of Russia in the field of mining? Ilya Usov continued. — We have relatively low electricity tariffs in a number of regions, relatively simple conditions for renting plots for data centers, there are free capacities in a number of power system nodes, low temperatures prevail throughout the year (required for cooling machines), in addition, the state provides support for so-called projects legal hosting.
The region where the most inexpensive electricity in Russia is the Irkutsk region. It was on the territory of this subject of the federation that the most powerful “farms” in the country were once built. According to the project director of ERSO, the pioneer investors took a big risk, because even though bitcoin was then worth about 3 thousand dollars, it repeatedly fell in price almost to zero.
Now these people who saw the prospect of a digital “coin” are very rich. Those who followed them, in pursuit of profit, began to connect to any power grid in any form. As a result, overload and not always high-quality wiring caused fires in the apartments and houses of unlucky miners.
Ilya Usov showed the students the projects of the power grid infrastructure for cryptocurrency mining, the stations involved in this process and the equipment used. So, an Antminer machine with an electricity cost of 3 rubles per kilowatt-hour will bring its owner about $20 per day, while a miner will pay 7,200 rubles per month for electricity.
However, as mentioned above, the time of home "farms" has already passed. Now businessmen are investing hundreds of millions of rubles in such projects. Otherwise, it is simply unprofitable, since it becomes more difficult to get digital money every year.
“For example, we need a “farm” for 100 megawatts in the city of Bratsk (Irkutsk region), Usov explained. - By simple calculations, you can get a figure for electricity costs: this is about 200 million rubles a month. No one will say the level of income, it all depends on the bitcoin rate. An investor, like any business, takes risks.
At the end of the lecture, Ilya Usov answered the students' questions. One of them concerned the activities of the ERSO holding in the field of cryptocurrency mining.
“No, ERSO does not do this,” Usov said. “However, we are ready to offer customers the infrastructure: design, construction of substations, supply of electrical equipment.”
“The lecture was very interesting,” Nikita Nazarov, a 3rd year student of USPTU, shared his impressions. — It's great that the ERSO holding organizes meetings dedicated to such progressive topics. Moreover, I believe that cryptocurrency is the future of mankind, that it will be a single world currency.”
The lecture was held as part of the ERSO University project. It is planned to continue holding interesting events for young people.
Every year, digitalization is becoming more and more dense in our lives. For the majority of the population, the terms “bitcoin” or “mining”, although they have not yet become everyday words, can no longer be called exotic. Especially for young people who are actively interested in the topic of cryptocurrencies.
ERSO holding within the walls of the Ufa State Oil Technical University organized a lecture on the topic “Development of the power grid infrastructure for blockchain projects and cryptocurrency mining”. The speaker for the students of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Electrical Equipment of Enterprises was the Director for Design Works of ERSO, Candidate of Technical Sciences Ilya Usov.
“On the one hand, cryptocurrency has several advantages,” Usov explained. - This is anonymity, the absence of intermediaries between the seller and the buyer, relative safety (it is difficult to fake a digital "coin"). The disadvantages include, firstly, the dependence on supply and demand. For example, the exchange rate of bitcoin was once a little more than a dollar, then it rose to $300, then to $17,000, then dropped sharply to $6, then rose again, etc.”
Now the price of bitcoin has fallen again many times over. So, at the beginning of November 2021, it cost almost 68 thousand dollars, at the moment its cost fluctuates around 20 thousand dollars. Usov also attributed the complexity factor of cryptocurrency as a means of accumulation to the minuses.
Gone are the days when you could mine with your home computer. Now this process is carried out by powerful specialized equipment located in data processing centers (data centers). And this requires a huge amount of electricity.
“What are the advantages of Russia in the field of mining? Ilya Usov continued. — We have relatively low electricity tariffs in a number of regions, relatively simple conditions for renting plots for data centers, there are free capacities in a number of power system nodes, low temperatures prevail throughout the year (required for cooling machines), in addition, the state provides support for so-called projects legal hosting.
The region where the most inexpensive electricity in Russia is the Irkutsk region. It was on the territory of this subject of the federation that the most powerful “farms” in the country were once built. According to the project director of ERSO, the pioneer investors took a big risk, because even though bitcoin was then worth about 3 thousand dollars, it repeatedly fell in price almost to zero.
Now these people who saw the prospect of a digital “coin” are very rich. Those who followed them, in pursuit of profit, began to connect to any power grid in any form. As a result, overload and not always high-quality wiring caused fires in the apartments and houses of unlucky miners.
Ilya Usov showed the students the projects of the power grid infrastructure for cryptocurrency mining, the stations involved in this process and the equipment used. So, an Antminer machine with an electricity cost of 3 rubles per kilowatt-hour will bring its owner about $20 per day, while a miner will pay 7,200 rubles per month for electricity.
However, as mentioned above, the time of home "farms" has already passed. Now businessmen are investing hundreds of millions of rubles in such projects. Otherwise, it is simply unprofitable, since it becomes more difficult to get digital money every year.
“For example, we need a “farm” for 100 megawatts in the city of Bratsk (Irkutsk region), Usov explained. - By simple calculations, you can get a figure for electricity costs: this is about 200 million rubles a month. No one will say the level of income, it all depends on the bitcoin rate. An investor, like any business, takes risks.
At the end of the lecture, Ilya Usov answered the students' questions. One of them concerned the activities of the ERSO holding in the field of cryptocurrency mining.
“No, ERSO does not do this,” Usov said. “However, we are ready to offer customers the infrastructure: design, construction of substations, supply of electrical equipment.”
“The lecture was very interesting,” Nikita Nazarov, a 3rd year student of USPTU, shared his impressions. — It's great that the ERSO holding organizes meetings dedicated to such progressive topics. Moreover, I believe that cryptocurrency is the future of mankind, that it will be a single world currency.”
The lecture was held as part of the ERSO University project. It is planned to continue holding interesting events for young people.
