Bitcoin entrepreneur taps into spare Canadian power to launch Vancouver venture
BIT BETWEEN HIS TEETH
WORDS : MARTIN WALKER PICTURES : CHRIS BOOTH
I t doesn ’ t sound like the most natural of transitions – from managing a landscaping company to producing cryptocurrency .
But that ’ s what Alex Lineton has done , after taking on an audacious new international project .
Entrepreneur Alex has ambitions of floating a Bitcoin business on the Toronto Stock Exchange after investing £ 500,000 in a Canadian mining venture .
He ’ s now the UK CEO of Vancouver-based Mine One Blockchain Inc , which has invested half a million sterling in infrastructure , equipment and hydro power .
Bitcoin mining , which is growing hugely in the US , is performed by high-powered computers that solve complex computational math problems , with miners using increasingly complex machinery to speed up mining operations and ‘ mint ’ Bitcoins .
But there ’ s a worldwide shortage of Bitcoin miners after China shut down mining operations earlier this year .
Canada – which is the world ’ s fourth-highest producer of hydro power – currently has 8 per cent spare hydro energy capacity .
And with Bitcoin mining demanding huge amounts of energy , Mr Lineton has acquired spare , carbon neutral hydro capacity in Canada to run a sophisticated Bitcoin mining operation .
He explained : “ Mine One Blockchain Inc . is a blockchain infrastructure company , with the aim of demonstrating that cryptocurrency mining can be done at scale in an environmentally friendly and sustainable way .
“ Canada is producing all this hydro power , the world has a problem with Chinese miners being shut down , and we need to keep Bitcoin transactions going
“ So we ’ re taking Bitcoin mining , which is in huge global demand , to somewhere that has a lot of spare power capacity , to create a carbon neutral hydro electric mining development in Canada to provide the infrastructure for Bitcoin .
“ By using only renewable and carbon neutral energy sources , in association with next generation mining rigs , the company has huge potential and is already rapidly scaling .”
With two recent increases in its value jumping from the level of $ 29,000 on July 20 to a high of nearly $ 48,000 on August 16 , Mr Lineton says the combination of Canada ’ s spare power capacity , together with the growing price of Bitcoin , convinced him to target Vancouver .
“ There ’ s a fascination with Bitcoin . It ’ s new but it ’ s incredibly valuable ,” said Mr Lineton .
The magazine for Aycliffe Business Park | 17