SHOULD IRAQIS START TO MINE A DIGITAL CURRENCY?

Should Iraqis Start to Mine a Digital Currency?

Written by Guest Author On August 30, 2017 - 3 min read

Cryptocurrency is the new type of currency the digital world is slowly adapting to. With the rise of cryptocurrencies’ value, people have already begun mining.

What is cryptocurrency?

It is a decentralized currency that is not printed but rather mined. Mining started with the creation of Bitcoins in 2009. Similar to gold, mining cryptocurrency requires resources of which are limited. If we take Bitcoins as an example, there are only twenty million bitcoins in the world. It is the first cryptocurrency that was awarded to miners who were helping the bitcoin open-source application for peer-to-peer network transaction. Untraceable peer-to-peer transactions can not be done without the help of a software that uses sophisticated code so both parties’ currency are safe. There are a lot of mathematical equations that need to be calculated in order for the transaction to execute. Helping to solve the mathematical equations is called mining.

Where can I start mining?

Anyone can start mining with a computer in a cool room, internet connection, and continuous electricity; all of which can be found anywhere in the world but at different costs. How is this trend affecting Iraq? To answer that question, Bite.Tech interviewed Mr. Mazin Adnan, an Iraqi crypto currency miner.

Is it difficult for Iraqis to start mining cryptocurrencies?

It is hard for Iraq to adapt to this new environment, as the common social mentality does not accept something digital. Since the money is not tangible, it is hard for them to accept it as a currency. If we provide them the right knowledge and expand their horizon they will hopefully understand it and start using it. Also, cryptocurrency could another dimension to the local economy.

Electricity in Iraq is interruptive and not continuous, how do you overcome this issue?

It is true that we do not have the best electricity but we can simply overcome this issue by generators and UPSs. Since electricity is cheap in Iraq, this will help Iraqis to mine at a lower cost than other countries. The cost of electricity in Iraq is almost 25% of the cost in other countries. This is a great opportunity for Iraqis as the profit is much higher than the cost of mining.

What are the challenges you are facing?

The only challenge that I am facing now is temperature. Mining requires computers with high end GPUs. Those GPUs heat up fast and we need a reliable cooling system. It is hard to provide a cool environment specially in the summer. The weather is my only challenge.

As an Iraqi, how hard was it to obtain the high end computer components?

We already have a fair amount of computer components that can be used for mining. The high GPUs are already used by PC gamers already available in the markets. Instead of using the GPUs for gaming, I use them for mining. You can find 90% of the parts in Iraq. I only needed to order couple of cables from Amazon because they were not available in our local stores.

Would you encourage other Iraqis to start mining?

As mentioned earlier, we already have most of the hardware in our local markets to assemble a powerful computer and we have a suitable environment for a supercomputer to operate. I believe that Iraqis should start mining now as the cost of cryptocurrency are rising day after day and mining will become more expensive and much more competitive in the near future.