The complicated interaction between local bitcoin miners and the electricity provider in Paraguay will affect the market for mining equipment.
Paraguay’s parliament could not get enough votes to enact a law that would have limited the markup on kWh for bitcoin mining in that country to 15%. By contrast, the local electricity provider, Ande, had asked the government to impose a markup of up to 60%, and the bill would have limited that overpayment. The bill needed 41 votes to pass, and only 36 voted in favor.
The peculiarity of the situation is that Paraguay, in terms of the balance of supply and demand, is one of the most energy surplus countries in the world – all thanks to the Itaipu dam and hydroelectric plant operation, which allows this state to have one of the lowest energy rates in the world.
Not surprisingly, Paraguay has been home to international bitcoin mining companies for years. In particular, Bitfarms has 12 megawatts of mining capacity here, as well as a PoW with bitcoin miners with a combined capacity of 12 megawatts.
Now we should expect the move of mining equipment to other parts of the world, as well as the appearance of additional volumes of bitcoin miners on the market, which will help to keep the prices of such equipment low for a while. This situation attracts some players to make large investments in bitcoin miners, given the opportunities that have arisen.
In addition, M&A deals on mergers and acquisitions continue to take place actively in the market. For example, it has come to light that U.S.-based miner Marathon Digital mulls option to acquire bitcoin miners from the financially insolvent company Compute North.