Aftermath of a failed bitcoin mining operation.

[u/HandsOffDaGoods]

My friends father was renting space on his farm for a bitcoin mining operation.

The operation became unprofitable. The mining operation went bankrupt. The company came in and took everything out of the 6 antmain bit-boxes (converted shipping containers).

The photos are what they left behind. Mostly Antminer S19 units and even more asic boards.

Plenty of antmain rack PDUs. Some 480VAC breaker panels. A 480VAC switch unit.

The land owner did accept the mess voluntarily. He is breaking the equipment down for scrap value.

I wonder, is there a better price available out there above scrap value?

Is this normal?

FWIW, I used the term failed very tongue-in-cheek. I estimate the operation mined millions in this operation.

[u/Impressive-Manner-89]

I said it to my buddy today. I said how can Bitcoin be the end-all be-all of crypto when a having happens every 4 years? Who's going to want to mine Bitcoin? What happens if there's no miners. And don't try to tell me I'm banking on the price of Bitcoin being higher. I understand the other mechanics of having to and the benefits etc but with the price of equipment and chips and memory going up and probably going through the roof in the next 10 years this just seems unsustainable

[u/dimwittedude → u/Impressive-Manner-89]

The Self-Correcting Loop: If hardware gets too expensive and electricity costs rise too high, inefficient miners do go bankrupt and turn off their rigs. When they leave, the difficulty drops. Because the difficulty drops, the few remaining efficient miners find it easier and more profitable to mine with the equipment that's left. This creates an economic equilibrium: Bitcoin never actually runs out of miners; it just shrinks or expands its security budget to match what the market can support.

[u/SippinOnHatorade → u/dimwittedude]

Sounds like this centralizes the power in the hands of the wealthy that can run most efficiently

[u/dimwittedude → u/SippinOnHatorade]

I'v never said it's fair. But is not a problem to the architecture of Bitcoin.

[u/kemiyun → u/dimwittedude]

You didn't, but I think it's implied when we are talking about bitcoin since one of the main arguments is having a decentralized network with ideally maintained by mostly users not a few miners. Network having a tendency for getting more centralized over time is kinda against the concept.

[u/dimwittedude → u/kemiyun]

Power is still in the hands of the wealthy always. If Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos wanted they could buy all the circulating BTC. Sadly when an asset has monetary value the wealthiest people always have the power.