Bitcoin Mining Company Establishes in Rural Virginia County

by James · October 26, 2022

(TNS) — A ribbon cutting for a bitcoin mining company located in the Bluestone Business and Technology Park in Tazewell County was held Tuesday morning.

Blackstone Data Services, LLC will provide data center hosting, server and node maintenance, and cryptocurrency mining container consider production for the benefit of a tri-state area.

An estimated private capital investment of USD 18 million over 10 years will initially create five new high-tech jobs.

The business will be the first to locate in the shell building in the park, and two large external data center servers have already been installed for the company.

Jonathan Belcher, executive director of the Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority (VCEDA), said the mining operation is the first of its kind in Southwest Virginia and Southern West Virginia.

“Our mission is to provide expert turnkey data hosting and technology services so our clients can invest in new technologies without the hassle of self-hosting,” said Seth White, CEO of Blackstone. “Our vision is to provide a portfolio of data hosting and technology services that allow investors to easily access advanced cryptocurrency technologies and deploy these as investment instruments.”

White said he initially couldn’t “wrap his head around” the concept of cryptocurrency “mining” and “blockchains”.

But step by step, his understanding grew to the point where he was ready to plunge into the business, including $4 million worth of equipment.

“I would say that within the next 10 years, when you buy and sell a house … you will do it (buy, sell and record the financial transaction) on a blockchain,” he said. “That blockchain cannot be hacked.”

White said what all of this means is more jobs and more tax revenue for the county as “we continue to grow as a company. Our goal is to help this county grow and prosper.”

Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-9th District, attended the event and said the company locating in the park is a “significant development for Tazewell County.”

“Data centers and cryptocurrency offer new economic opportunities for Southwest Virginia, and Blackstone’s decision will help realize that potential while bringing jobs and investment to our region,” he said.

Griffith said the park is an example of “what you until today” may not manifest itself in jobs and new opportunities in 15 or 20 years, and “that’s what we’re here today to celebrate.”

He also said that the price of bitcoins will go up or down, as do many commodities.

“You have to look at it in that spirit,” he said. “But world economies are looking at using digital currency going forward.”

Griffith said he is excited that Tazewell County is at the forefront of “helping this nascent industry grow up and get through adolescence.”

“What Seth and his partners are doing shows that here in Southwest Virginia we are looking to the future,” said State Senator Travis Hackworth. “This is a bold move for our region and I applaud the business, Tazewell County and VCEDA for diversifying our economy. This is the type of entrepreneurship that makes us strong.”

Hackworth said the park has always been a “forward-thinking” technology park that the county has invested in for businesses “like the one we’re seeing open today.”

A “vision” for the park took years to come true, he said, but now it has.

“I think it’s very commendable for Tazewell County to think of this years ago,” he said, and it’s good to see entrepreneurs investing in this type of business. “I can’t wait to see what’s in store for Tazewell County.”

“We are pleased to welcome Blackstone Data Services to Bluestone Technology Park,” said Charlie Stacy, East District Supervisor. “They will bring much-needed high technology, diversified job opportunities to Tazewell County and significant capital investment.”

Stacy said White saw the vision Tazewell County wanted in information and technology and the desire to diversify into “things we didn’t do and things we didn’t know.”

Some may be skeptical about bitcoin, cryptocurrency, business, he said, but it’s a matter of understanding how it works and how it protects assets.

“We built Bluestone for technology companies,” said Tazewell County Administrator Eric Young. “Blackstone Data Services is our first high-tech tenant and is a welcome addition to Bluestone.”

Young said he now has a better understanding of what the company does.

“We can be part of the new world and part of this next step,” he said of cryptocurrency and its role in the evolving world of digital finance.

Belcher said the business is on “every radar screen” and growing.

– It fits very well with the strategy of the region and the county, he said. “When this project first came to the VCEDA board in February from the Tazewell County Industrial Development Authority, our board was very easily able to support it … It’s in an industry sector we wanted to grow in the area … We saw the potential in it.”

The shell building, which is now under a lease/purchase agreement with Blackstone, was built with VCEDA funding.

Belcher said the VCEDA board in 2017 approved a loan of up to $2,739,700 to the Tazewell County IDA to be used to fund site grading, site development, building construction, utility installations and expansions, other improvements and costs associated with the construction and development of the approximately 40 000 square meter technological shell building to be occupied by Blackstone.

Timothy Danielson, director of economic development for Tazewell County, said the system used requires a large amount of electricity and the county is working with AEP on how best to provide the necessary power.

All available power is already in use, he said, adding that the company wants 10 to 12 megawatts.

A meeting was held last week to try to raise money to build a substation for the park, he said. – We’ll see how it goes.

Danielson said the substation will be needed to accommodate Blackstone’s needs, as well as provide power to other businesses located in the park.

“We’re starting to get people looking at the park, but right now we just don’t have enough power for the park,” he said.

Blackstone will primarily offer complete data center hosting services to its customers who wish to purchase and distribute cryptocurrency, nodes or other hosted server technologies.

Cryptocurrency is a digital currency that does not depend on any central authority, such as a government or bank, to maintain and maintain it. It is a decentralized system for verifying that the parties to a transaction have the money they claim to have using blockchain computing technology and data analysis of transactions.

Bitcoin runs on a decentralized computer network or distributed ledger that tracks transactions in the cryptocurrency. As computers on the network verify and process transactions, new bitcoins are created or mined. These networked computers, or miners, process the transaction in exchange for a payment in Bitcoin.

The value of one bitcoin, according to industry sources, was $19,158 on Tuesday.

Bluestone Technology and Business Park is located on 680 acres at the foot of East River Mountain a few miles west of Bluefield. The park was completed in 2011, funded by grants of nearly $3 million and about $10 million from the state tobacco commission.

The park was designed to be more than a traditional industrial park, targeting more “cutting-edge” technology companies, and the original plan also included adding high-end companies as well as restaurants, a hotel-conference center, a residential area, recreational facilities, hiking trails, and rental cabins and cabins higher up the mountain.