An examination of cryptocurrency mining locations in greater detail, since many Arkansans are concerned

Little Rock, Arkansas – Though the world of cryptocurrency is growing, many Arkansans have straightforward questions: What’s happening at these sites that mine cryptocurrency, and why is there so much noise?

“Our government is printing trillions of dollars every day. Bitcoin is what we call sound money,” Arkansas Blockchain Council president Ben Smith said.

That sound money quickly transformed into the cryptocurrency that people see or hear about today, impacting financial systems all around the world.

“People, they don’t understand, well what the heck does that mean,” Rep. French Hill (AR – Rep.) said.

Smith gave a tour of a Bitcoin operation in an attempt to address that query.

“This is a building full of computers that are running a global algorithm to mine bitcoin, searching for bitcoin to solve a math equation,” Smith explained.

Like stock, a bitcoin can be purchased. Every ten minutes, every machine on the network represents a Bitcoin owner, and they are all looking for the same winning block.

“One computer in the whole world will find the answer to the equation and when it does that, you’ll get rewarded a block,” Smith said.

The blocks add up to bitcoins, which are digital currencies in the cryptocurrency space. More and more companies are taking cryptocurrency payments for everything from luxury goods to daily necessities.
According to Smith, the value of one block was $205,000, or 3.199 bitcoin.

“One of these guesses about 200 trillion numbers a second,” he added.

Each computer generates a lot of heat as a result of its activity, which is where the noise comes in. Fans are designed to assist in removing heat from the machines and out of the exhaust, thus cooling the computers.

Despite the site’s seeming loudness, the noise diminishes as one moves farther from the property.
There is worry that the size of the site means there will be less room for the noise to be dispersed for some other cryptocurrency mines that are opening up around the state.

Many neighbors in Arkansas who live close to crypto-mining facilities have been trying to stop the noise for more than a year.

“It is literally in our backdoor,” Lyle Lindquist, who lives near the Vilonia crypto mine, said. “It doesn’t shut off. It’s 24/7.”

Determining the sites’ owner is another issue. The office of Attorney General Tim Griffin is currently looking into a couple of the locations in an effort to drive out any foreign ownership from the natural state.

“We don’t want their problems to reflect on us and our investments,” Smith said.

Following opposition to legislation enacted in 2023, legislators recently convened in a special session to approve additional limitations on mining operations. This allowed local governments to reclaim some authority to intervene.

“We’ve never seen anything quite like this in our state before,” Rep. Jeremiah Moore said.

Federal legislation is also being worked on, although Hill stated that Capitol Hill is concentrating on more important issues.

“In Congress, we’re trying to create a digital framework for all digital assets,” Hill said.

Additionally, a plan supported by the US Treasury would establish nationally regulated cryptocurrency services is being worked on by Congress.

“As more adoption takes place, the value should go up. Bit coiners are betting on that future adoption,” Smith said.

According to Smith and Hill, the pattern suggests the crypto industry is only getting started.

“Wall Street closes,” Smith said. “Bitcoin never closes.”