Ukraine has announced plans to establish major data centers near some of its many nuclear power plants. These centers will ultimately be used to mine cryptocurrency and store important documents. The news suggests that bitcoin and cryptocurrency is growing more popular around the world as prices continue to experience further spikes.
Ukraine Looks to Establish Itself as a Mining State
As it stands, there are contrasting reports regarding how much electrical energy will be required for the mining facilities to be established. While the Ukrainian government has put out reports stating that anywhere between 250 and 500MW will be needed, the state-owned utility company Energoatom claims that anywhere between two and three GW will be required to run the operations.
Right now, Ukraine is reporting an overabundance of electrical energy that’s being produced by the nuclear plants. The mining facilities are viewed as ways in which the power can be put to good use. In addition, it is also being stated that the operations can reduce current problems with the country’s transmission systems.
Energoatom has now signed a contract with a company known as H2 LLC to build the first data center – worth a reported $700 million at press time – near what’s known as the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, arguably the largest nuclear facility in all of Europe. The plant is located only about 200 kilometers from Donbass, which has suffered from recurring war throughout the years.
In addition, H2 has also been commissioned to establish a new $300 million hydrogen electrolysis plant, while the mining facilities are set to be overseen and monitored by Bitfury, a Dutch cryptocurrency mining company. Petro Kotin – the Ukrainian state head – announced in an official statement:
Thanks to the experts of Energoatom and Bitfury Holding engaged in the preparation of the Memorandum and for completing the first stage of cooperation. This is the beginning of a large and complex work, which will allow solving some strategic tasks both for Energoatom and for Ukraine as a state.
A Mixed BTC History
Right now, primary funding for the mining projects appears to be coming from a firm known as Yom Capital. While information regarding Yom is relatively scarce for the time being, it is reported that the company has joined hands with several leading pharmaceutical businesses in regions of Cyprus, Greece and the United Arab Emirates to boost the production of testing supplies for the coronavirus.
Construction of the mining facilities is not expected to be fully finished for another year and a half, with the projected finish date stated to be August 31, 2022 at the time of writing. Ukraine is one of a few countries that does not instill any licensing measures for those looking to mine cryptocurrency. The country has also debated the prospects of taxing bitcoin and crypto gains by as much as five percent in the past.