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- Iceland's top utility company is turning away new bitcoin miners as it faces an energy crisis, Bloomberg reported Tuesday.
- Iceland has attracted bitcoin miners who need cheap electricity to search for new currencies.
- Utility company Landsvirkjun has also reduced power supplies to some industrial customers, including aluminum smelters and data centers.
Iceland's main power company is turning away new bitcoin miners in an effort to reduce commercial power use during a hydropower supply crisis, according to a Bloomberg report on Tuesday.
Iceland is an attraction for cryptocurrency miners who need cheap electricity to search for new currencies in the face of boom and demand and prices. The price of the world's most traded cryptocurrency has risen by roughly 80% during 2021, including after last weekend's dramatic loss.
Utility company Landsvirkjun has also reduced power supplies to some industrial customers, including aluminum smelters and data centers. The reduction is due to low levels of hydroelectric reservoirs, a malfunction at a power plant and a delay in obtaining power from an outside producer, according to the report, citing Landsvirkjun.
Landsvirkjun is now rejecting all power supply requests from new customers mining e-coins, according to the report.
Among the crypto miners that have been operating in Iceland are Hive Blockchain Technologies Ltd. from Canada, Genesis Mining Ltd., which is listed in Hong Kong, and Bitfury Holding BV.
Bitcoin on Tuesday traded above $ 51,000 after Saturday's dip to a low $ 42,000 as part of a broader cryptocurrency market collapse. Analysts said the selloff was fueled by a cocktail of concerns, including the new variant of the Omicron coronavirus and increased chances that the Federal Reserve will tighten monetary policy.
Analysts also say the drop was compounded by market structure, with many traders using derivatives and borrowed money. Derivatives are contracts that allow people to bet on the direction of an asset without actually owning it.
