Montreal entrepreneur banking on province's largest bitcoin 'mining' operation

A young Quebec entrepreneur has quietly created the largestbitcoin-mining operationin the provinceand plans to expand this year.

Jonathan Bertrand runs Technologies D-Centralfrom a warehouseon the outskirts of Montreal.

From outside, the hangar is inconspicuous. Inside, the noise is deafeningthe sound of fans cooling the 50 computers running day and night, mining for bitcoin.

These computers don't have keyboards or screens. They are packed with microprocessors doing continuous calculations, tracking bitcoin transactions and competing against other computers to solvethe mathematical puzzle created every time there's a transaction.

Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer online currency, with no central authorities such asbanks or governments controlling or regulating it.

Its value is determined by how many people are buying it and using it, and how many new coins are in circulation.

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Currently, one bitcoin is worth about $9,000 about 10 times more than its value in January 2017.

Turning a profit

Computers like the ones in Bertrand's warehouseknow how much bitcoin is floating around, what it's worth and who owns it. With this information, they maintain public ledgers, which are readable by anyone.

"The bitcoin network, every heartbeat, is a microchipthat makes a constant calculation, every second," said Bertrand.

And in exchange, the people behind those computers are entitled to a small piece of thetransactions a takethat adds up quickly.

"The profitability depends a lot on prices, and attoday's price, one computer can bring in around $600 per month," he said.

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There is a huge network of computers around the world running special bitcoin mining software, competing to problem-solve and create newbitcoins.

While thousands of processors around the world make up this bitcoin network, Quebec isbecoming a hotspot for this kind of mining operationbecause of the province's low electricity costs and its cold winters.

Running a single one of thewarehouse's computers night and day eats up about $90 worth of electricity, but the operation saves on the cost of cooling systemsthat keep the machines from overheating duringthe winter months, when temperatures drop.

Expanding the operation

Bertrand has plans to installadditionalprocessors at the existing warehouse and hopes to open a second bitcoin mining operation in another warehouse somewhere inMontreal'ssuburbs.

But he's on the look-out for competition; large companies based inChina and Iceland have been sniffing around Quebec, Bertrand says, drawn by thelow Hydro-Qubec rates.

While the get-rich-quick nature of the operation seems appealing, many would-be investors arecautious as financial authorities warn against the instability of the market and its association with money laundering operations.

Still, Bertrand insiststhat all his business is conducted above-board, and he believesit's only a matter of time before bitcoin begins to compete properly with thetraditional banking system.

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