The second edition of the Bitcoin MENA conference kick started in UAE capital Abu Dhabi on Monday, December 8. A number of Bitcoin mining firms with links to China have made a notable appearance on the first day of the event.
China, an avid critic of the crypto sector, imposed a blanket ban on all crypto activities in 2021. Despite the ban, however, it seems like the country is contributing notably to the manufacturing and supply of Bitcoin mining equipment.
Bitmain, a Shenzhen-based mining hardware company is among those showcasing how their equipment is produced and how they work at the ongoing Bitcoin MENA conference. Another mining firm called Crypto Miners told CoinHeadlines that while they operate out of the UAE and other countries, they do acquire their BTC mining equipment from China.
A majority of these mining firms including Crypto Miners are demonstrating the use of “hydro cooling” systems – being deployed to keep these advanced and power-intensive BTC mining machines temperature-controlled for better performance and outputs. Demonstrations by these companies showed installations of water inlets and outlets to support the working of the systems.
Between June and October this year, multiple crypto reports had claimed that China supplies 90 percent of Bitcoin mining equipment around the world. Bitmain, Canaan, and MicroBT are reportedly the three giants producing the ASIC Bitcoin mining hardware at whale scale.
Bitmain has refused to engage with the media at the Bitcoin MENA conference, citing company policies.
The agenda of the conference, however, does reflect a strong push around opening discussions related to Bitcoin mining. The electricity-intensive process requires network validators (miners) to solve complex algorithms on advanced computers to validate transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain and add new blocks on it in exchange for BTC rewards.
The process has long been criticized on concerns of being detrimental to the environment. Additionally, complaints of power outages in regions surrounding BTC mining farms have also previously made it to the headlines from regions like Texas, U.S., and Kazakhstan among others.
At the Bitcoin MENA event, panel discussions focussed on the emerging “cooling tech” for BTC mining are slated to bring the development under the industry spotlight.
The UAE is trying to take a pro-regulatory stance towards BTC mining operations. In October, for instance, Abu Dhabi announced a fine of 100,000 AED ($27,229) on farmlands being used for BTC mining operations.
Among other highlights from the ongoing conference, the first edition of “The History of Bitcoin” is surely catching the attention of the community. The book, bound in the Bitcoin orange colour, traces the history of Bitcoin from the time it was first minted to now, when it has emerged as the most expensive cryptocurrency of the world.
The two-day conference is set to host industry leaders like Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao and BTC billionaire Michael Saylor among others.