Rusal, the world's second largest aluminum company, switched to opening a Bitcoin mine

According to Russian local media RBC, the Nadvoitsy aluminum plant of Rusal, the world's second largest aluminum company, will reopen its old site, but instead of continuing aluminum production, it will be transformed into a "Bitcoin mine."

Rusal's discontinued aluminum plant to be converted into a Bitcoin mine

The U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Rusal in April 2018. At the time, the U.S. Treasury Department called Rusal's majority shareholder Oleg Deripaska a "designated Russian oligarch" and sanctioned the company. The Nadvoitsy aluminum plant was once one of the largest metal manufacturing plants in Russia, but due to the economic sanctions, the plant closed down due to the loss of American customers.

Subsequently, Rusal agreed to lease part of the Nadvoitsy aluminum plant to the Russian Mining Company (RMC). “Now the plant is unprofitable for Rusal, the electricity supplied to it is barely utilized, and people living in the mono-industrial town near the plant have nowhere to go,” said Dmitry Marinichev, founder of RMC. Explaining the goals of the new cryptocurrency venture, he added: “The idea is to repurpose the plant and sell computing power.”

RMC reportedly plans to install cryptocurrency miners in the factory and use its cheap power supply to turn it into a giant Bitcoin mining farm, focusing on mining 20% ​​of the world's BTC. RBC also reported that Russia hopes the farm will generate $100 million in monthly revenue and create an ecosystem for miners and investors to challenge China's dominance in the global Bitcoin mining industry. Currently, China controls 70% of the global Bitcoin mining market.

Although the price of Bitcoin has been unstable for some time, investors' interest in cryptocurrency mining has been rising, leading several companies to start building large-scale mining farms. Just recently, Bitmain informed the public of its plans to build a large-scale mining facility in the United States. In addition to this, other investors have also joined forces to inject $50 million into the development of another large-scale cryptocurrency mining facility. (Aluminum Road Network)