By George Ward
This year has been rough for Cuba-based crypto miners who have to deal with the ongoing crypto bear market and power outages simultaneously. As a result, several miners have had to move to other locations in search of favorable mining conditions.
According to reports, some parts of Cuba are experiencing an epileptic power supply. The constant power blackouts affect crypto miners, who depend solely on electricity.
Digital currencies are gaining giant strides in Cuba. Citizens of the country have uncovered numerous use cases for crypto.
Holders use crypto for foreign shopping, internet, and mobile top-up services. They also use these digital assets to send and receive remittances. Unfortunately, crypto mining has not gained such a level of popularity due to several reasons.
One primary reason is the latest power blackouts crypto miners are experiencing. Cubans once saw crypto mining as an intelligent investment that needed little capital.
Unfortunately, this notion has changed, given the present state of the nation’s power grid. Raydel González, a citizen who runs a small crypto mining farm, spoke with Cubanet, a local news website, about the challenges that miners face in the nation today.
According to him, he constructed his rig to run a crypto-mining operation. But the recent blackouts have rendered crypto mining in Cuba economically unfeasible.
Power Blackouts Affects Local Telecom Grid
Meanwhile, several miners have taken steps to continue their mining operations. Such efforts include securing a constant gas supply to power their mining plants.
One such miner is Eduardo Gomez, who bought power plants to remain in business. However, gas has become scarce recently, making it unsustainable in the long run.
Gomez complained that despite investing over $5000, he is yet to make any profit. Besides power outages, these miners are also suffering from poor telecom services.
The local telecom grid in Cuba, Etectsa, has also been struggling with performance efficiency due to power outages. Etectsa stated that it does not have enough power plants to run its operations.
This problem began in June after executives complained about the poor power supply. At the time, an inside source stated that “Etecsa does not have enough fuel to power its generators. Hence, it is experiencing long blackouts.”
The source added, “the power plants cannot generate enough electricity to power our equipment for a long time. This has affected our services greatly.”
Meanwhile, Cuba is not the only state with power issues. Kazakhstan, a former hub for crypto miners, reportedly chased miners away after the citizens complained of poor power supply.