Cryptocurrency miners continue to build in Massena. Cheap electricity is the key to hunting for Bitcoin. Thousands of small computers whir away, each sucking enough electricity to power an average home. Coinmint plans to spend big money to install even more at the former Alcoa East smelter. “Somewhere around $700 million will be the total invested here and our goal is to get that done over the next 12 months here,” chief technology officer Prieur Leary said.Electricians are hooking the computers up inside the mills. The computers run complex equations 24/7 hunting for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Coinmint says a significant percentage of the money it spends will be spent locally. They know not everyone is convinced. “It's going to take some time before folks here actually realize, you know, the benefits of us being here.” Leary said. The secret to it all is electricity, which is being bought at prices set region by region by the state grid operator. On Friday, electricity in far northern New York was priced two-third less than in other parts of the state. There are other cryptocurrency mining developments in Massena. Another miner wants to establish operations just down the road at the former General Motors site and a Clarkson professor is building a mine in a former convenience store. “We've been encouraging that," Massena town supervisor Steve O'Shaughnessy said. "We have the capacity to bring huge amounts of electricity into the area at reasonable rates, so yeah, it seems to fit.” Those running the former General Motors site confirmed this week a cryptocurrency miner is angling for space there. A few miles away, electricians are prepping that convenience store for another.
Coinmint has agreed a 10-year lease on a 1,300-acre plot that was formerly home to Alcoa’s smelting operation in Massena, Canada. The company is also looking for an additional 10,000 square feet of office space and will be moving its headquarters from the company’s current location at 1 W. Main St. in downtown Pittsburgh into the new building. Tapping into the region’s cheap wind and hydro energy and promising to provide local jobs, Coinmint is targeting full capacity by the end of the year and the centre is expected to become the biggest of its kind globally.