Bitcoin Forum

Four years ago, Alberto's career prospects were bleak. The 23-year-old Venezuelan had just graduated from college with a degree in computer science, but his nation's economy was already shredded by 13 years of socialism.

"There were job opportunities, but they paid like $20 a month, and we were used to traveling and buying things from abroad so we couldn't settle for that," his friend Luis recalls. Alberto and Luis—whose names have been changed for their own safety—teamed up to start a clothing business, but the venture floundered.

Then Alberto discovered bitcoin mining.

He read about it on an Argentinian gaming forum. An item posted to the site described a process of getting paid in a new internet-based currency denominated in strings of numbers and letters, in exchange for running computations on a home computer. His parents said that the whole thing sounded like a Ponzi scheme. Alberto, however, sensed that his life was about to change.

Four years later, his country is embroiled in a humanitarian crisis. The supermarket shelves are bare. Children are fainting from hunger in their classrooms. A mob recently broke into the Caracas zoo to eat a horse. Many Venezuelans subsist on a monthly government stipend equivalent to about $9.

Alberto, meanwhile, based on his own account, is earning more than $1,200 a day mining bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies.

...Bitcoin miners may have unique access to foreign goods, but they also live under constant threat. Many fear they'll be discovered by the Servicio Bolivariano de Inteligencia Nacional (sebin), the country's secret police force. SEBIN officers hunt for bitcoin miners and then extort them under the threat of arrest and criminal prosecution.

http://reason.com/archives/2016/11/28/the-secret-dangerous-world-of



There is loads more in that article - it's an indepth look at the Venezuelan situation and I recommend everyone click the link above to read it.

But the main factor driving Venezuelans to take up bitcoin mining is a price control put in place by the socialist government: Electricity is virtually free.

Alberto, meanwhile, based on his own account, is earning more than $1,200 a day mining bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies.

Interesting read, but I wonder how much of it is true.  $1200/day seems ridiculously high.   Is anyone still mining over 1btc per day from home?  Also: Zoo animals make for great eating.  Mmm-mmm!

If he manages to do that his electric bill would be enormous. And not in terms of usd but of KW.
With the government unable to provide 24/7 service I doubt he would be left alone mining with that kind of gear.

In maximum a month police would be at his door.

Interesting read, but I wonder how much of it is true.  $1200/day seems ridiculously high.   Is anyone still mining over 1btc per day from home?  Also: Zoo animals make for great eating.  Mmm-mmm!

I have read some articles that the bitcoin exchange in Venezuela had failed to function since the banks are going away from them denying them to have bank transactions. The miners on the other hand if known to the public were raided by the police for unknown reasons. With this turn of events we could not tell if bitcoin mining or bitcoin usage in Venezuela will prosper.

i didn't understand one thing about this article, and i see others are also mentioning it, and that is the $1200 per day. the article wasn't clear about this (or maybe i didn't get it). but is the $1200 earned by mining bitcoin or is it earned by importing goods and the process it explained about gift cards,...
i would be understandable if it is the combination of mining bitcoin and then using that bitcoin to earn more money.

but if that is true that raises the question of how much do they earn by mining.

I expect he has the miners distributed across many sites to disguise the electricity use. According to that article he is taking huge precautions - living in a poor neighbourhood that doesn't get raided, wearing old clothes, keeping a low profile. It also said he had about a dozen relatives he is supporting, and I guess in return he is getting them to keep the miners on their premises.

Probably a mix of both. If you can buy food on amazon for dollars, get it to Venezuela and then sell it on for a premium to desperate people, there is money to be made.

Also, the article says "bitcoin mining" but as we know miners mine whatever is profitable, so they're probably mining eth, ltc and other stuff.

Poor neighborhoods are the most raided. Also the one where power is cut more often.

You need 100 S9 for that income.How did he managed to get close to 300 000 dollars to buy that equipment?

Something is pretty fishy about this story.

This was obviously a while ago, so it is not entirely unlikely. If he came in early when they were still mining with CPU's and GPU's then he would

have been mining a load of coins with a much lower difficulty factor. Some people "steal" electricity and mine with much higher profits than

people that have to pay utility bills.  ;)