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Do you barter for everything Jeff? Or do you use baht to buy things?
Don't waste your time moralizing about mystical zen-like notions of transcendence that my white brain will never understand. We're all weary of your posing. Just a straightforward answer will do.
So we may deduce that if you turn up at the US Treasury and demand fair value for your $ 1 banknote they will provide you with one five-hundredth of a donkey.
A bitcoin mining facility in Thailand has been destroyed in a massive fire this week and foul play has not been ruled out, according to a local source.
The 5-megawatt farm was operated by mining cooperative Cowboyminers and primarily relied on Spondoolies-Tech and Innosilicon hardware, with some additional miners from BitFury and Gridseed.
Cowboyminers was formed by a group of European expats living in Bangkok, who tried to maintain a low profile, but at the same time operated a relatively extensive mining operation.
Hash rate dip?
The incident was reported in local media, but the bitcoin community started realising something was wrong before the news broke, as the disaster seemed to have caused a drop in the hash rate.
The blaze reportedly started overnight Wednesday, when just two people were at the facility. Local media reports that the fire raged out of control for more than 30 minutes and, while no injuries were reported in the incident, damage was extensive.
Spondoolies-Tech confirmed that much of the hardware used in the facility was sourced from them.
The manufacturer's CEO, Guy Corem, told CoinDesk that he had visited the site in late June, when it was primarily populated by about 1,000 Dragon miners and around 100 Spondoolies-Tech miners.
Corem said the facility was expanded shortly after his visit, with hundreds of Spondoolies-Tech SP30 miners. These had operated for more than two months without incident and technical data indicates they were cooled properly, he added.
'Kosher' operation
There has been no official word on the extent of damage suffered by the facility. It is estimated that the farm housed upwards of 2,000 miners when it was destroyed, including about $2m-worth from Spondoolies-Tech alone.
Corem described the cooperative as a good and serious client:Arson not ruled out
The operator also suggested that ventilation inlets could have fueled the fire and helped it spread. In all, three buildings were engulfed, two of which subsequently collapsed.
The facility and the machines, which had been paid for in bitcoin generated from the mining operation, was not insured. However, the representative said it has enough resources to get back on its feet.
"We had zero insurance. Everything is our own money," he said. "We are early adopters and we are not new to mining."
Images courtesy of Spondoolies-Tech, Cowboyminers collective
Modern mining for precious commodities has gone digital, and with that comes what may be the first big digital mining disaster.
A Bitcoin mining facility in Thailand recently went up in flames, with three buildings burning to disastrous proportions, taking the servers with them.
The mining facility is said to belong to Cowboyminers, and reportedly the hardware was not insured, making it look unlikely it'll be back up and running any time soon.
According to Spondoolies-Tech, which made the hardware, the data center's wiring wasn't up to code.
It seems the fire itself happened back on October 14, and that since then it has been discussed heavily over on the BitcoinTalk forums, where images of the blaze were posted and both companies -- Spondoolies-Tech and Cowboyminers -- have chimed in on the disaster.
The information is scattered, and it isn't entirely clear what caused the blaze.
Though Spondoolies-Tech stated on the forum that the data center's wiring didn't meet US electric code standards, Cowboyminers posted saying that wiring was not the cause:
it was NO overload on any cables or transformers. We Had 200% margins on the cables,
No cheap or quick job. No density or heat problems.
All sp30 and other miners where running cool and fine.
No fire has started by the miners for sure, or any electrical problem in the setup.
Ultimately, the fire's cause is unknown, will perhaps remain so.
Any number of things could have gone wrong, and at this point it serves as a big example to other Bitcoin mining facilities: make sure everything is up to snuff or risk disastrous consequences.
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