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Text | Edited by Zheng Yi | Produced by Bi Tongtong | PANews On May 13, 2020, a mining pool named Lubian suddenly appeared on the BTC.com mining pool list, with a hashrate of over 6000P, ranking 5th. At that time, the mining circle was in an uproar, and various speculations were heard one after another. Some people analyzed that it was related to the CoinIn mining pool, which happened to have a decrease in hashrate and personnel changes. Some people speculated that the mining pool was jointly established by several large miners, and some people said that such a large hashrate might be a private pool of a mining machine manufacturer. Although the Chinese slogan "Lubian: The world's safest high-yield mining pool" printed on the Lubian official website shows everyone that this is a mining pool dominated by Chinese miners, no one expected that Lubian Mining Pool would go to the Middle East, set up in Iran, and even take root in this "mining paradise". Entering the mining industry, from a "takeover man" to a "giant" As one of the partners of the Roadside Mining Pool, Liu Ping talked to PANews about why she entered the Bitcoin mining circle. She said that " entering the mining circle was an accident ." In 2018, as the price of Bitcoin continued to fall, investors' confidence also continued to decline, institutions lost money and went bankrupt, and miners shut down their machines and left the market. Compared with the grand occasion of 2017 when it was hard to find a machine, most of the low-computing mining machines at this time became scrap metal. The process of Bitcoin falling from $13,000 at the beginning of the year to $3,000 at the end of the year not only shattered the "dream of getting rich quickly" of new miners, but also forced old miners to make a choice: to lock in the profits or to go overseas to fight again? There is no shortage of adventurers in this world, let alone gold diggers in the crypto world. The moment they step into the cryptocurrency circle, they prove that they have a keen sense of money deep in their bones. In 2018, tens of thousands of Shenma mining machines boarded a giant ship bound for the port of Abbas in Iran. As an old miner who had been storing mining machines and building a mine in Sichuan since 2015, Wang Qiang (pseudonym) chose to continue taking risks. Information gathered from various sources told him that the Middle East would be the next stop for Chinese miners. If they could gain a foothold in Iran, the losses of that year would be easily recovered. However, Wang Qiang did not expect that Iran, with its serious geopolitical conflicts, was far more complicated than he had imagined . Iran's mining channels were not successfully opened up. When he returned home in defeat, he came up with the idea of selling mining machines. "This ship belonged to my partner. At that time, tens of thousands of mining machines were stranded on her ship, and we collected them as scrap." Liu Ping said. It was also this accidental opportunity that Liu Ping and others entered the Bitcoin mining circle. The Middle East, where Iran is located, has always been synonymous with imbalance, disorder and loss of control. It is rich in oil and natural gas and energy, but it is also a cradle of criminals and a hotbed of war. In Iran, more than 85% of electricity is produced by natural gas. As the largest natural gas producer in the Persian Gulf region and even in the world, the natural gas resources here are inexhaustible and almost free. At the same time, the Iranian government's large amount of electricity subsidies to local companies has also reduced the cost of electricity to "cents". Compared with the domestic electricity price of more than 30 cents in China, Iran's electricity fee of less than 10 cents is undoubtedly a huge attraction for Bitcoin miners. Extremely low electricity prices, cheap labor costs, cheap land costs, and a relatively suitable low-temperature environment attract Bitcoin miners from all over the world. In the eyes of miners, Iran is simply a "mining paradise." But when the crazy miners traveled thousands of miles to the Middle East and rushed to Iran, they were horrified to find that they could not even enter the gate of the mining paradise. The mining machines were arbitrarily increased or even directly confiscated during customs clearance. Even if they successfully entered Iran, they were treading on thin ice in the process of cooperating with local companies. Being maliciously increased in electricity charges was a small matter. It was not uncommon for the mines to be sealed off, the machines to be seized, and even for other miners to occupy the nest after being driven away by the locals. However, once all channels are opened up and there is a relatively solid local background, Bitcoin mining is indeed a "hot commodity" with a high return on investment, and many obsolete models can be reborn. Although there are a large number of mining machines, it is not easy for ordinary people to set up in Iran. Customs connections, government relations, power plant resources, etc. are indispensable, and this is exactly the advantage of roadside mines. "Because our partner opened a logistics company, we have our own customs clearance channels. And we have better local resources in Iran and maintain good relations with the Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, military, etc." Liu Ping explained. Mining in Iran: Opportunities and Crisis Coexist After the mining machine passed the customs smoothly, local resources in Iran began to operate. Liu Ping and others reached a cooperation intention with a local private power plant. According to Liu Ping, the investors of the power plant are Chinese and Iranians, and they generate electricity by burning garbage and mixed energy. The mine is set up inside the power plant and is built entirely of containers. At the same time, the power plant is also directly involved in the operation of the mine and will receive part of the mining share, but the overall electricity price cost can be controlled within 1 cent. Due to the special situation in Iran, compliance with regulations is extremely important for Bitcoin mining. Failure to obtain approval is illegal, and the consequences include closure of mining sites and confiscation of assets, or even imprisonment. PANews previously reported that Iran said in January 2020 that it had issued more than 1,000 cryptocurrency mining licenses. When talking about the compliance of the roadside mine in Iran, Liu Ping said that the mine is legal and compliant and has formal approval documents. Not only that, Liu Ping also said that the roadside mine is the largest mine in Iran that is still legally operating. Although they have abundant resources and complete formalities, Liu Ping and others still face the complex situation in Iran with caution. In the early morning of January 3, 2020, a black shadow flashed across the dim horizon. The MQ-9 model, nicknamed the Grim Reaper, suddenly swept into Iran's Baghdad International Airport. As several "Hellfire" missiles poured down, Iranian senior general Soleimani died on the spot, shocking the whole country of Iran. At the same time, the instigator, the United States, also quickly entered a state of alert. Affected by the tense international situation, the price of Bitcoin rose rapidly, quickly breaking through the $8,000 resistance line, and continued to rise. "Many mining farms in Iran have been closed, and the mining farm of a domestic exchange has also stopped operating," said Liu Ping. She also admitted that mining in Iran is indeed a risky thing. In addition to building its own mining farm in Iran, Lubian Mining Pool also hosts some machines in multiple mining farms in Sichuan . "One mining farm has stopped operating, and Shenma M3 can no longer mine," said Liu Ping. According to PANews, the computing power of Lubian Mining Pool is also gradually declining. As of August 11, its total computing power is about 4500P, ranking 11th on the BTC.com list. "Low-key" is the label that Roadside Mining Pool has in the minds of all the people in the mining circle. Even when the computing power was connected to BTC.com, it was not done by the roadside mining pool itself, but by a programmer named Spicalab who tracked the mining pool information after noticing data anomalies when deploying a Bitcoin full node, and then submitted it to BTC.com on Github. According to Liu Ping, there are four partners in the Lubian Mining Pool, who own all the computing power in the pool . Importantly, none of them are insiders and have almost never participated in any activities in the industry. The major shareholder is Liu Ping's husband. After graduating from the University of Hong Kong, he went to Hangzhou to start a business. With a technical background, he founded a big data technology company. He is currently also a major shareholder and manages mining affairs in Iran. Another co-shareholder is the owner of a logistics company. It was on her boat that the roadside mining pool acquired tens of thousands of Bitcoin mining machines. Another partner is from Beijing. Although entering the industry was purely accidental, there was an element of inevitability in the accident. This inevitability was the faith of the partners on the roadside in Bitcoin. Liu Ping said that the main reason for investing in the mining industry was the long-term optimism about Bitcoin, so in addition to selling some coins to pay for electricity and operation and maintenance costs, the rest were hoarded by them. "Compared with traditional industries, mining is still a very good business." Liu Ping also admitted that in addition to the mining pool business, Lubian has not yet carried out any other cryptocurrency financial services business. Their current purpose is very pure, to mine coins and then hoard them. |
