A Look Inside the Parallel Universe of Chinese Bitcoin "Mining"

All things considered, the buildings with the splendid tin rooftops don't look like spots where cash is made. High in the remote mountains of the locale of China's Sichuan region that outskirts Tibet, economic life has for the most part been fixed on grazing and foraging. However, for as far back as couple of years, towns beyond the range of public transportation, where occupants say there's not a lot to purchase and they couldn't spend their salary regardless of the possibility that they needed to, have started to show up on the guide of front line worldwide fund.

A Bitcoin "mine" with a blue tin rooftop sits by a hydroelectric power plant in Ngawa (Aba) Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan territory, September 27, 2016. Situated at the eastern edge of the Tibetan Level, the region has rich hydropower, a key factor in making energy escalated mines practical. Power normally represents 60-70 percent of a bitcoin mine's costs.

The buildings are Bitcoin "mines," warehouse-like structures packed with microprocessors that solve complex math problems and are compensated for their efforts in the digital currency. On the off chance that you have ever utilized Bitcoin, as an investment or to pay for things or administrations on the Web, odds are high that it was "mined" in China, utilizing the technique for creating new currency concocted by the Bitcoin's software engineers. This technique has been refined by entrepreneurial Chinese investors, in a nation that has commanded both the currency's era and the worldwide exchange the currency and where worldwide money related instability and tight government confinements on regular currency trade have made Bitcoin particularly alluring to investors. So far Bitcoin's allure in China has withstood a current spate of government efforts to manage it.

Most budgetary activity in China happens along its coast, and areas like western Sichuan are once in a while associated with cutting edge figuring. Yet, given the high power needs of the vast groups of computers required for Bitcoin mining, the industry has discovered a characteristic home in the area as a result of the plenitude of hydropower there. Hydro-electric plants set up along mountain streams regularly produce more energy than they can pitch to China's state matrix, and some plant proprietors have discovered they can either pitch the surplus to Bitcoin mines—for which power represents up to 60-70 percent of costs—or set up their own particular mines. This gives the remote mountain towns an edge over districts where power is more costly.

Photographer Liu Xingzhe headed out to Sichuan's Ngawa (Aba) Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, somewhere in the range of 175 miles from the common capital of Chengdu, to investigate the operations of these mines, as well as the lives of the "diggers" who spend their days tending to buzzing armies of machines. He likewise flown out to Shenzhen to see the factories where the world's finest Bitcoin mining hardware is built and produced.

The business exists in a legal gray zone in China, and Liu's subjects, worried about consideration from the government, requested that not have their full names or the names of the towns where their mines are found mentioned in this story.

Employees utilize their telephones at the Bitcoin mine, September 26, 2016. The mine has 550 "mining machines" running persistently. They solve complex scientific problems for which they are compensated with Bitcoins. Seven employees work in shifts monitoring the machines to keep the mine running 24 hours every day.

Huang, 25, Kun's sibling, investigates a broken mining rig in the middle of his night shift, September 26, 2016. Miners can check a machine's condition and operations utilizing telephones and PCs. For most issues, they can essentially restart a machine. "In the event that it's a complicated issue, we simply send it to the factory and let them settle it," Huang said.

A 29-year-old Tibetan named Kun postures in the middle of passageways of mining machines, September 26, 2016. Kun is the mine's supervisor and in addition one of its investors. He found out about Bitcoin through a companion and started putting resources into 2015.

A worker at the hydroelectric power plant checks electric generators, September 26, 2016. Kun persuaded the proprietor of the hydroelectric power plant to manufacture a Bitcoin mine alongside the power plant in 2015.

Packing boxes for mining machines pile up in an employee dormitory, September 26, 2016. Kun recently purchased new mining machines: the AntMiner S7 (U.S.$490) which has greater computing power than the AntMiner S5 (U.S.$140) it would replace. 550 mining machines, a combination of S7 and S5 models, running 24 hours can mine 2.5 Bitcoins a day, according to Kun—worth around U.S.$6,400.

Tibetan women wait for a party hosted by Kun to celebrate the mining machines’ upgrade, September 26, 2016.

Liu, 29, stands in front of a wall of cooling fans at his Bitcoin mine where he houses and operates mining machines for miners who don’t want to move to rural Sichuan, in Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan province, September 27, 2016.

Internet cables and power cables at Liu’s mine, September 27, 2016.

Liu meets with clients, September 27, 2016. He moved from Henan province to Sichuan province in 2015 for the cheaper electricity. Now, he manages more than 7,000 mining machines for clients all over the country. Meanwhile, his clients can monitor the machines’ operation and Bitcoin earnings remotely using apps on their mobile phones.

Sun, in his early twenties, is an employee of a Bitcoin mine in Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan province, September 28, 2016.

Packing materials for mining machines pile up beside the water-cooling system at Sun’s mine, September 28, 2016.

Sun’s colleagues rest in their dorm, September 28, 2016. They live at the mine, which is so remote the nearest public transportation is 20 miles away, in the nearest town. They pay to hitchhike there once a week. “The good thing is, there isn’t anywhere to spend money, so you can save your whole salary,” Sun says.

Employees use their phones near the mine Sun works for, September 28, 2016.

Goats from a nearby village walk among cooling fans at the mine, September 28, 2016.

Stacks of AntMiner S9 mining machines ready to be shipped to clients around the world, at Bitmain Technologies’ manufacturing base in Shenzhen, November 9, 2016. Bitmain and Canaan, another Chinese company, dominate the global mining hardware market.

Employees work on an assembly line of AntMiner S9 mining machine at Bitmain’s manufacturing base, Shenzhen, November 9, 2016.

A researcher works in a lab at Bitmain’s manufacturing base, Shenzhen, November 9, 2016.

An employee puts labels on AntMiner S9 mining machines, in Shenzhen, November 9, 2016. The AntMiner S9 is the most efficient mining machine on the consumer market right now. It’s current cost is U.S.$1,113.

Bitcoin miners add each other on social media at the first China Bitcoin Miner Conference, at Chengdu Tianfu Financial Center, in Sichuan province, October 22, 2016.

Employees work at BTCChina (BTCC)’s office, in Shanghai’s financial district, January 13, 2017. BTCC was founded in 2011, and is now one of China’s largest Bitcoin exchange platforms. According to its CEO Bobby Lee, Chinese people like the “online gambling” feel of Bitcoin’s instability; also, with the Chinese government’s restrictions on many investment channels, people welcome new ways to invest their money.