A Former Gulag in the Arctic of Russia is speculated to become a Mining Hotspot for Bitcoin

It has been reported recently that a Russian firm is planning to open up a hotel in the Arctic Circle. When it comes to holidays, Arctic Circle would be the last option on any person’s list. However, this hotel is expected to be one of a kind at present. The hotel will not be built upon a typical format of a holiday hotel but with a unique one.

This hotel will be built on a crypto mining format as ASIC bitcoin (BTC) mining rigs will be fitted in the hotel. These rigs will then be powered by electrical energy, consuming a total of 11.2 MW.

The crypto-hotel is set to be built in the facilities that were previously owned and operated by Norilsk Nickel. It is a company that is represented by Vladimir Potanin who is currently the richest man in Russia. The company is currently working on a tokenized metals trading platform project, with the approval of the Russian Government.

The Norilsk Company was built back in 1930, on a ground that was permanently frozen. This zone is considered to be one of the most northerly permanent human settlements in the entire world. It is also notoriously known for being a center of the Gulag labor camps during the Soviet reign. This region is known for having an average temperature of -6 degrees Celsius to 10 degrees Celsius.

It has been revealed that the current bitcoin mining hotel project is the innovation of Norilsk’s local authorities. However, Norilsk authorities have announced that they will not limit the crypto-activities to one project. Instead, they revealed that other crypto-mining operators are also welcome to build their facilities in Norilsk and start mining.

At present, the Norilsk based facility has been run by a mining team from Switzerland that goes by the name, BitCluster. The BitCluster team will be provided with 150 S19 ASIC rigs acquired from China’s Bitmain firm.

The local authorities confirmed that BitCluster has already signed an agreement with the local energy production, known as Norilsk-Taimyr Energy Company.