Bitcoin is the current buzzword in technology circles nowadays. The potential for making fast money is there for investors and the blockchain technology which underpins bitcoin has a wide area of potential uses. Even though bitcoin remains wildly popular in investing and technology sectors, it’s not neccesarily something that everyone is excited about. Recently, changes to the cryptocurrency market have stranded bitcoin miners as some governments are taking the step to make bitcoin mining illegal.

However, the United States remains one of the more bitcoin friendly governments on the planet. Which means that a lot of miners who have previously set up shop in countries like China are now making their way stateside. How does this sudden influx of bitcoin mining, and the equipment necessary to perform it, affect data centers in the United States?

Cooling Methods

Bitcoin is a computation heavy activity with the need for ever more electricity and computing power. This puts on strain on data center resources and the space and power they have to allocate to other clients. As a result, data centers have had to become better equipped at accommodating and cooling this type of equipment.

Bitcoin requires highly specialized equipment. In order to run a successful mining operation, you need to have high performance hardware that’s capable of solving computational algorithms at high speeds while remaining efficient and accurate. Not an easy task at all. The demand for the hardware necessary to mine bitcoin is constantly increasing, making this infrastructure hard to come by.

In addition to high demand for hardware, the demand for data centers to accommodate this equipment is also rising exponentially. The biggest issue facing data centers when it comes to hosting cryptocurrency clients is ensuring that they’re equipped to handle the cooling demands of this type of hardware. As bitcoin mining equipment grows more sophisticated, the amount of heat generated by the hardware also increases. Many data centers that specialize in cryptocurrency hosting are turning to liquid cooling to accommodate their clients.

In addition to supporting extreme power density, liquid cooling has the potential to slash the cost of data center infrastructure, allowing users to operate servers without a raised floor, computer room air conditioning units or chillers. It also allows ASICs to operate without fans, which are typically among the largest components of a bitcoin mining rig.

Data Center Construction

The data center construction market, of which Bitcoin mining operations are a subset, is expected to book a compound annual growth rate of 9% in the U.S. and 11.2% worldwide between 2020 and 2025—reaching $34.5 billion, up from $22.6 billion in 2019, according to Research and Markets.

As bitcoin mining operations in the U.S. continue to surge, we can expect a large portion of the new data centers being brought online in the next few years will have plans to accommodate big players in the crypto sector. This will have an impact on how new data centers are planned and the approach providers take to alternative cooling and power sources. The data center construction boom will continue into the future, with bitcoin mining being a driving force.

Power

Since bitcoin mining is such an extremely computing intensive activity, the need for both electric and computing power increases over time. Data centers that support bitcoin mining are usually in the range of 1 megawatt to 5 megawatt facilities. As many bitcoin miners know firsthand, the data center industry has not initially been friendly to bitcoin miners as their equipment requires large power draws 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Due to the large power draw of cryptocurrency mining operations, data center providers have to get creative with how they allocate power in their facilities as well as looking to alternative sources of power to help bring down overhead. This is a difficult task which leads many hosting providers simply deciding not to accommodate these kinds of clients. In fact, data center space for bitcoin mining equipment is in such high demand right now that in some instances miners are offering bounties for referrals to crypto friendly data centers.

Bitcoin Hosting Providers

At Datacenters.com, our provider agnostic approach allows us to partner with hundreds of different data center operators, offering the widest selection of solutions possible. As a result of this, we’re uniquely positioned to know which hosting providers are accommodating of bitcoin miners and which aren’t. As most miners know firsthand, not every data center is willing to allocate the space and power necessary to operate a successful mining operation.

Datacenters.com is the leading technology platform, directory, and online marketplace for data center solutions. Our portfolio consists of 340+ providers with 2,900+ facilities in 85 countries, allowing users to search, compare, and contact industry leading solution providers with the click of a button.

Our team of expert advisors are available to guide you along the path – free of charge. Schedule time today to speak with our team so they can connect you with providers eager to win your business. Datacenters.com are the experts in crypto hosting solutions. Contact us today to find out why.