Canadian Province Offers Low-Cost Energy Incentives to Bitcoin Miners

They’re doing it in British Columbia, Quebec, Manitoba, Alberta and Labrador — bitcoin miners in Canadian provinces are taking advantage of the country’s cool climate and abundant supplies of hydroelectric power.A number of provincial governments are offering lower rates to attract bitcoin miners and Labrador’s government is considering energy incentives to attract what it says are “outstanding requests for service” from bitcoin and other “data centre” processors, according to a report from the National Post.The province of Quebec experimented with energy incentives but was so overwhelmed by the demand from bitcoin miners that it withdrew its lower energy prices — but is still experiencing an increased demand for power.According to recent reports, Chinese bitcoin mining farms are looking outside of China for cheap power and a number of Chinese bitcoin miners have relocated to Quebec, paying standard business hydro electric rates.Moving from a Resource-Based to Knowledge-Based EconomyMuch of the rural and northern areas of Canada have been resource depleted as forestry and fishery companies used up resources that were close enough to markets to be viable and are now looking for new challenges to drive their economies.Labrador, a remote and scenic eastern province, is too far from major markets to thrive economically once forestry and fisheries were depleted, and the province has lots of hydro power including two huge power-ge...