Blockchain

Cryptocurrency Company Promises to Teach Blockchain Basics to Local Students

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 11/19/19

A company that produces chips for hardware used in blockchain and artificial intelligence applications has launched a mining farm in Texas and committed to teaching blockchain to local students. Bitmain is constructing a 25-megawatt "mining farm" — a specialized data center — in Rockdale, with ambitions to double capacity and build what it's calling the "world's largest cryptocurrency mine." Bitmain has its headquarters in Beijing.

The new location — on a 33,000-acre site previously occupied by Alcoa — has the potential to expand by a factor of six.

This is the third cryptocurrency mine project invested in by Bitmain in the United States, the company said in a statement.

The Texas facility will be managed by DMG, which describes itself as a cryptocurrency and blockchain platform company. DMG expects to employ some 400 full-time people at the data center.

The project has brought local government into the process, including working with the Rockdale Municipal Development District, to develop a workforce for staffing the Rockdale mining facility as it expands.

Bitmain has also pledged to work with Rockdale Independent School District to provide education and training on blockchain technology and mining data center operations.