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UAE emerges as a pro-Bitcoin mining destination in the Middle East

The United Arab Emirates’ combined Bitcoin mining capacity is estimated to be around 400 megawatts or 4% of Bitcon’s global hash rate.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is gradually solidifying its status as a go-to Bitcoin (BTC) mining destination in the Middle East. The country has established itself as a pro-Web3 destination for crypto-focused companies with over 30 free trade zones and a growing contribution to the Bitcoin mining hash rate.

The UAE’s mining journey began with Bitcoin miner Marathon Digital partnering with Zero Two — the digital asset arm of Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund — in May. The joint venture established two mining sites with a combined 250-megawatt (MW) capacity in Abu Dhabi.

Abu Dhabi has become a hub for all kinds of crypto mining activity in the UAE due to its energy efficiency and status as the center of trade in the country.

According to data from Hashrate Index, UAE’s combined Bitcoin mining capacity is likely around 400 MW — or 4% of Bitcon’s global hash rate. While the likes of the United States, China, Russia and Kazakhstan are the top four countries with the largest share of Bitcoin’s global hash rate, the UAE could gradually climb the ladder due to its available resources.

UAE Bitcoin mining overview. Source: Hashrate Index

As a global player in the energy market, the UAE has shifted its focus from its oil and gas reserves toward solar and nuclear energy. Historically, the country’s electricity was generated by natural gas, but in the recent past, shares of nuclear and solar are growing rapidly.

The UAE’s estimated share of electricity production. Source: Hashrate Index

UAE’s electricity demands fluctuate significantly between the hottest and coolest months, leading to a heavy loss of generated electricity. For example, in 2021, the UAE’s combined power and desalination plants wasted 20 terawatt hours, equal to approximately $600 million. This gap and wastage of electricity could be filled by Bitcoin miners.

Related: Dubai to Abu Dhabi: How NFTs are used in the UAE

With Bitcoin mining focused on using clean energy sources, the UAE could see a significant chunk of its energy coming from nuclear and renewable sources in the next decade. Thus, the surplus from these sources could be utilized by miners in the country. Among other advantages for miners is the country's zero-tax policy.

This means Bitcoin miners can register in one of the country’s over 30 free trade zones and avoid corporate tax, value-added tax and import duties — a significant advantage over operating in Western countries.

Magazine: Crypto City: Guide to Dubai

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Crypto mining in 2023 — Is it still worth it? Watch Market Talks

Join us as we discuss whether cryptocurrency mining is still worth it in 2023 and all the latest updates regarding the mining industry.

In this week’s episode of Market Talks, Cointelegraph welcomes Justin Kramer, CEO of Badgerland Home Crypto Mining and a long-time cryptocurrency investor. When he is not attending to his own mining rigs, Kramer provides consultation services to home-based operations and larger startups on how to set up mining farms.

We start things off with miner prices and how they have changed in the last few months. Have the prices gone up or down, and what kind of impact does Bitcoin (BTC) have on prices? Which miners are the most in-demand right now, and who is buying them — small-scale miners or larger operations?

Mining operations that paid extremely high prices for mining rigs, which are now not worth even close to the same amount, how are they managing in this market? What is their plan for getting their investments back? Is it a lost cause at this point since the prices of the coins they currently mine are not as high as they used to be? Is it still worth it to pay those high electricity costs and keep mining?

United States President Joe Biden announced a new budget recently that also includes a whooping 30% tax on the electricity used for cryptocurrency mining operations. We ask Kramer for his thoughts on this and what exactly the details are of this new tax. Could this be an attack on crypto?

Are miners gravitating more toward altcoin miners at this point because they might be able to make more of a profit as compared to Bitcoin mining? We ask Kramer if this is true, and if so, what is the reason behind it?

How profitable is it to mine Kadena (KDA)? How much do the miners cost, and also, is it worth anything to mine and hold Kadena? Is the network moving forward and innovating?

We ask Kramer how he advises people who want to set up a mining farm, is it all Bitcoin miners or a certain percentage of Bitcoin miners and the rest are altcoin miners, and which miners does he recommend specifically?

How are things developing in the cloud-based mining and NFT-based mining sectors? Are they a good option for someone who might not have the space or resources needed to run a miner in their house or on their property? We also ask Kramer for the details about profit sharing and other expenses involved in this form of mining.

We cover all this and more, so make sure to stay tuned until the end because Cointelegraph Markets & Research will also be taking your questions and comments throughout the show, so be sure to have them ready to go.

Market Talks streams live every Thursday at 12:00 pm ET (5:00 pm UTC). Each week, it features interviews with some of the most influential and inspiring people from the crypto and blockchain industry. So, head on over to Cointelegraph Markets & Research’s YouTube page and smash those Like and Subscribe buttons for all our future videos and updates.

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Bitcoin mining in a university dorm: A cooler BTC story

Here is why a run-of-the-mill cooler is actually the perfect home for a dorm-based Bitcoin miner.

The humble university dorm is a place for students taking their undergraduate degrees to study, rest, make new friends, host wild dorm parties and, of course, mine Bitcoin (BTC). 

A master’s student in market research and self-described “data guy,” Blake Kaufman, has hooked up an S9 Bitcoin miner to the Bitcoin network.

He won the S9 miner in a raffle at a mid-Michigan Bitcoin meetup and immediately set about learning how to use it.

During a video call with Cointelegraph, Blake joked that he knew next to nothing about mining prior to the raffle. The moment he won, he raced to the nearest place offering a power cable and an ethernet connection to try it out, his dad’s office.

“We turned it on, never hearing one [an S9] before. And if you know, when they start, they immediately rev up to 100% and we’re all just in the room like — oh my gosh — this thing is loud! We ran it for probably two hours and we walked into that office and it was hot.”

The hot and noisy realization kicked his brain into gear. The Michigan winter was fast approaching and his university provides free electricity. Why not mine Bitcoin from a dorm and take advantage of the waste heat? There was one minor but audible hurdle to overcome. “How can we fix the noise,” he questioned.

“I just looked up online, like, how to noise cancel S9, and this picture of a cooler on Pinterest popped up. Me and my Dad were like, ‘Let's build it. Why not?’ So we bought a $5 cooler on Facebook Marketplace and we had the tubes in our attic and we spent about two hours drilling holes and it ended up working.”

The pair constructed the Bitcoin mining cooler box, which now takes up residence in Blake’s dorm. The finished product would not look out of place in any dorm room and is “actually quieter than an air conditioning unit,” he explains.

Two angles of the cooler-encased Bitcoin miner.

But aren’t there rules against this sort of thing at university? Won’t the energy-hungry Bitcoin miner put a dent in the university’s electricity overhead?

“So the miner is about 900 watts an hour, a mini fridge is about 60 to 100 watts a day. So it’s pulling a decent amount of electricity there. I looked up all the rules and it didn’t say anywhere you couldn’t mine a Bitcoin or use a Bitcoin miner. So if they say you can’t do this, I’d be like, okay, you didn’t say I couldn’t.”

In a nutshell, Blake’s not breaking any rules. What’s more, one miner in one dorm in a large university home to thousands of students is unlikely to raise suspicion. It’s an ode to the famous saying attributed to Rear Admiral Grace Hopper that sometimes, “It is better to ask for forgiveness than permission.”

The ASIC S9 now whirrs away, generating roughly 0.000001 BTC or 100 satoshis —  the smallest amount of a Bitcoin — per Bitcoin block, which occurs on average every 10 minutes. It translates to “about a dollar a day” in fiat-money terms. It’s a paltry amount but not to be sniffed at as a student.

Blake’s total outlay to start his Bitcoin mining venture was a coolbox and a few cables at less than $20 and he can probably reuse the cooler come summertime.

The mining cooler interior.

Incidentally, Blake’s next challenge is to work out what to do when the weather improves and the mercury rises. Peak summer days in Michigan can hit 95 degrees Fahrenheit (35 Celsius). As a result, the outside air temperature will not cool the miner, a vital part of its operation:

“So I'll have to figure out something, maybe put it in a box of ice cubes and then something like that. I don't know yet.”

Blake has already considered using the Bitcoin miner to heat his family home after graduation. The idea, Blake explains, is to experiment with whether he can offset the gas cost at home and make it profitable. “It’s just unfortunate because, in Michigan, our electricity cost is $0.14 a kilowatt hour.”

Michigan’s energy costs are relatively high in the United States, as shown by a darker purple color. Source: Chooseenergy.com

Electricity and heating costs are higher in Michigan than in energy-producing states like Texas. Using the waste heat from Bitcoin mining could be a way of offsetting the energy costs.

Related: The Bitcoin shitcoin machine: Mining BTC with biogas

Indeed, tapping into Bitcoin miner waste heat is a growing trend, particularly prevalent for at-home or “chicken shack miners,” as they’re known. Bitcoin Gandalf from the Braiins Marketing Team told Cointelegraph: 

“Chicken shack” miners are the backbone of the Bitcoin network hash rate. It’s incredible to see all the different ways they come up with to mine. They provide an invaluable service in keeping hash rate decentralized.”

Armed with oodles of Bitcoin knowledge, Blake has since tried to orange pill his classmates and even professors. Unfortunately, some of them hold the belief that “Bitcoin is a scam.” He has taken it upon himself to set the record straight: 

“I’m emailing those teachers being like, Hey, office hours, when are they? Let’s have a chat. You can’t just come out and say Bitcoin is a scam with a Bitcoiner in the room.”

In the meantime, the S9 is whirring away in his dorm room, contributing to a network Blake strongly supports and generating 100% “free money.“

Well, “Other than the $30,000-a-year tuition I pay, but it’s 100% free electricity,” he joked.

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The Bitcoin bottom — Are we there yet? Analysts discuss the factors impacting BTC price

$20,000 is becoming the “new” resistance for BTC price even though multiple indicators are screaming “buy.” Analysts share their views on the future of Bitcoin price.

When Bitcoin was trading above $60,000, the smartest analysts and financial-minded folk told investors that BTC price would never fall below its previous all time high. 

These same individuals also said $50,000 was a buy the dip opportunity, and then they said $35,000 was a generational buy opportunity. Later on, they also suggested that BTC would never fall under $20,000.

Of course, “now” is a great time to buy the dip, and one would think that buying BTC at or under $10,000 would also be the purchase of a lifetime. But by now, all the so-called “experts'' have fallen quiet and are nowhere to be seen or heard.

So, investors are left to their own devices and thoughts to contemplate whether or not the bottom is in. Should one be patient and wait for the forecast “drop to $10,000” or is now the time to buy Bitcoin and altcoins?

Generally, calling price bottoms is a futile task. What's really important to focus on is whether or not there are fundamental reasons for choosing to or not to invest in Bitcoin.

Sure, price has changed drastically, but have Bitcoin’s network fundamentals and the infrastructure surrounding Bitcoin as an asset improved or degraded? It’s important to zoom in on this data because for investors, this is where one should be sourcing their confidence and investment thesis.

This is exactly why Cointelegraph hosted a Twitter Spaces with analysts Joe Burnett of Blockware Solutions and Colin Harper of Luxor Mining. Here’s a few highlights from the conversation.

Equities markets will decide when Bitcoin price can “go back up”

According to Blockware Solutions analyst Joe Burnett, Bitcoin price is heavily impacted by Federal Reserve policy and its impact on equities markets. Burnett said:

“The macro environment is obviously heavily weighing on the price of Bitcoin. High CPI inflation has led to an aggressive Fed since November of 2021. Higher interest rates inevitably cause all assets to come down. Interest rates are basically gravity on financial assets, just basically discounted cash flow analysis. And these increasing interest rates are an attempt to destroy demand and and destroy inflation by the Fed. It's obviously putting pressure on all risk assets, including Bitcoin.”

When asked about the Bitcoin hash ribbons on-chain indicator suggesting that BTC had bottomed and miners had capitulated confirming that the Bitcoin bottom was in, Burnett said “I think with every sort of like on chain type metric, you definitely have to take it with a grain of salt. You can't look at it in a vacuum and say, yes, the bitcoin bottom is in.”

Burnett said:

“If US equities do make new lows, I certainly expect Bitcoin to follow. With that being said, I mean, if you're looking at the fundamentals of Bitcoin itself, I think minor capitulations do typically mark Bitcoin bottoms. And a hash driven indicator that Charles Edwards created is basically depicting that there was a minor capitulation this summer.”

Related: Canaan exec says opportunity outweighs crisis as Bitcoin miners struggle with shrinking profits

Synergy between Big Energy and Bitcoin miners is a net positive for BTC

Discussion of the growing partnership between big energy providers, oil and gas companies and industrial-size Bitcoin miners has been a hot topic throughout 2022, and when asked about the direct benefits of this relationship to Bitcoin itself, Colin Harper said:

“I don't think that mining does anything bad or good for Bitcoin. I think it's good for Bitcoin in the sense that it will actually in the long run strengthen network security, decentralize mining and put it in like basically every corner of the globe if you have energy producers mining it. But in terms of actually doing anything to the price, I think that's just a kind of a wider adoption case. And as to whether or not people will be using it day to day as a medium of exchange, store of value and just general investment.”

Harper elaborated with, “If these companies do start mining it, then it becomes more palatable. It becomes less stigmatized. Depending on, I guess the oil producer and that person's politics.”

When asked about what Bitcoin mass adoption might look like in the future, in relation to the growth of the mining industry, Harper explained that:

“It's just going to be a matter of time before they start integrating Bitcoin into their stacks. And I think that's when things get interesting in terms of mining as an industry because if you have the producers of the energy and the people who own the energy mining Bitcoin, then that makes it very hard for people without those assets to eventually turn a profit because you're going to see hash price, which already trades in backwardation. Eventually, you can imagine a future where only energy producers and those who are invested with or embedded with energy producers can actually turn a profit on their bitcoin mining.”

Regulation and a growing desire to self-custody will drive Bitcoin Lightning Network growth

Both analysts agreed that while it may take a handful of years, the growth potential for layer-2 Bitcoin is bright. Burnett predicted that “over time more and more people will learn to demand final settlement of their Bitcoin, meaning that more people will hold their own keys.”

According to Burnett:

“If Bitcoin adoption grows by 100x or 1000x, there's going to be a lot more competition for scarce block space and on-chain fees will likely rise just because people will be demanding much more settlement, magnitudes more settlement on the base layer. But the block space to settle on the base layer is fixed. So these on chain fees rising will basically, in my opinion, potentially make lightning channel liquidity that's already open and available. It'll make it more valuable.”

Harper wholeheartedly agreed and added that, in his opinion, the Lightning Network “will be the thing that allows Bitcoin to be used as a worldwide medium of exchange and also, like Jack Maller has put it, It's the thing that can kind of separate Bitcoin, the asset from Bitcoin, the payment network in a way that's actually scalable.”

Tune in here to listen to the full conversation of the Twitter Space.

Disclaimer. Cointelegraph does not endorse any content of product on this page. While we aim at providing you all important information that we could obtain, readers should do their own research before taking any actions related to the company and carry full responsibility for their decisions, nor this article can be considered as an investment advice.

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Russia Will Not Try to Ban Home Crypto Mining, Finance Ministry Official Indicates

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Students Mining Crypto in Dorms May Face Criminal Prosecution in Russia, Lawyer Says

Students Mining Crypto in Dorms May Face Criminal Prosecution in Russia, Lawyer SaysUniversity students in Russia minting digital currencies in their dormitories risk penalties and even criminal charges, according to a legal expert quoted by local media. The warning comes as Russian authorities are trying to curb crypto mining with cheap energy in residential areas. Mining May Turn Into Risky Undertaking for Russian Students As more and […]

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Power Utility Sues Russians Mining Cryptocurrency at Their Homes, Raises Electricity Rates

Power Utility Sues Russians Mining Cryptocurrency at Their Homes, Raises Electricity RatesA Russian power utility has found a way to increase electricity prices for consumers mining cryptocurrency using household electricity. The regional distribution company has taken dozens of amateur miners to court and has already won some of the cases. Power Utility Goes After Crypto Miners Using Subsidized Electricity to Mint Digital Coins Irkutskenergosbyt, a power […]

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