FatFish is using Canadian hydro power to lower the cost of its cryptocurrency mine

Cryptocurrency miner FatFish has secured a second site in the Canadian province of Montreal – which it says could power up to 700 more computer servers using hydro power.

Fatfish majority-owns a crypto mining venture, APAC Mining, which last month announced it was mining two bitcoins and eight Ethereum Ethers every week.

Now, they’re looking to mine even more of the digital currency.

Unlike regular money, digital currencies such as bitcoin aren’t issued by a central bank. Instead they’re generated through computing processes known as crypto mining.

Crypto mining uses a lot of power. It’s estimated annual energy consumption used to mine cryptocurrency bitcoin is 67 Terawatt Hours — that’s 67 trillion watts consumed in one hour, equivalent to the Czech Republic’s annual use.

Fatfish says Montreal’s strong supply of hydro-electricity means it has one of the lowest energy rates in the world, which should keep costs down.

“The new Quebec site will have a total energy capacity to power up to 700 cryptocurrency mining [computer] servers and will be the first for APAC in Montreal. Once this first site is established and operating successfully, APAC plans to secure more sites with the region.”

Shares in the company climbed 10 per cent to 4.4c in early Wednesday trade.

FatFish (FFG) shares over the past three months.

“By setting up this facility in Montreal, APAC will ultilise some of the lowest energy rates in the world, which not only reduces operating costs, but makes the operation more environmentally friendly,” chief Kin Wai Lau told investors.

The current industrial site will take just three months to transition – with mining for cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, ethereum, dashcoin and litecoin expected to begin as soon as it is done.

FatFish (ASX:FFG) invested $1.34 million in APAC Mining at the start of the year, and has helped establish operations in Malaysia where it hopes to bring in 170 bitcoins and 690 Ethereum ethers per year.

“As the operation is still in its early stage it is too early to estimate its gross profit margin at this juncture but APAC Mining estimates that its current operation commands a healthy double digit gross profit margin,” the company previously told shareholders.

Key execs are now at the Consensus 2018 blockchain conference in New York – one of the industry’s biggest events.

FatFish clarified to the market earlier this week that it was not on any fund raising exercise, but was promoting itself generally and looking at new development of its technology.