Very close to the plants that produce cell phones, televisions and other electronics, there is another industry that develops silently and could be the engine of the conversion of Tierra del Fuego.
This is the data centers, one of the pillars of the so-called Industry 4.0 and which the Government promoted through the Law of Knowledge Economy, promulgated unanimously in Senators just over a month.
One of the companies in the sector that already made a foothold in the South was BitPatagonia: the largest blockchain technology data center in South America.
To carry out this project, the company disbursed the impressive sum of US $ 10 million in order to explore not only virtual currencies, but also future services based on the block chain.
That is to say, the technology on which Bitcoin is based and that is transforming the way of doing business by its versatility in other branches, beyond the financial one. In addition, Argentina occupies a privileged place in the field: Buenos Aires is the second city with the highest crypto activity in the world, behind Prague (Czech Republic) and in front of San Francisco (USA).
At this time, the company prudently celebrates the boost of Bitcoin, which reached US $ 13,000 and - despite some losses - quadrupled its price during the first semester.
But not only for the appreciation of the currency, but because it is fulfilling a forecast that promises to definitively consolidate the Blockchain industry globally and that Argentina could take advantage of.
And they aim to lead the reconversion of Tierra del Fuego as the epicenter of the datacenters and development industry, despite the fact that both the local situation in Argentina and international bitcoin caused the company to accumulate many months of losses.
The perfect storm
The production of Bitcoin requires specific computers to perform complex mathematical operations that allow to validate transactions within the network and ensure the robustness of the system. As an incentive, the system creates from time to time new currencies that it distributes among those who contributed to the solution of the logarithmic problem
As it is a planetary competition, the better the equipment, the greater the chances of staying with these new bitcoins. Therefore, BitPatagonia created a world-class infrastructure in the south that works 24 hours a day.
"We chose Argentina, specifically Patagonia, to do this adventure and be pioneers in the blockchain ecosystem of the Southern Cone," says Klurfan, CEO of the firm, to iProUP.
The choice was not random, but pursues a practical purpose: Tierra del Fuego has low temperatures and high presence of winds, two key meteorological issues for the sustainable development of this industry.
Taking advantage of the Fuegian climate, BitPatagonia developed a plant design to take advantage of natural cooling. "If good ventilation and renewal of air is not achieved, the heat generation of the machines can reach 120 degrees, there were no previous experiences, the closest thing was a steel mill", highlights iProUP Walter Salama, Operations Director (COO) of the company.
The company started its activities in the second semester of 2018, when the Bitcoin was around US $ 6,500. Quickly, the leading digital currency collapsed to US $ 3,200, which was seen as a blow to the industry.
"We bought the machines at an average of $ 1,800 and after the Bitcoin went down, they cost about $ 300. It was very difficult to continue," says Salama.
The price of the coin was only one of the factors that impacted the company, which has 450 square meters in each of its two locations: Ushuaia, in a plant that rents to Newsan; and Río Grande, on the property of a construction company. The other blows were:
- Increase in electricity, the main input, in the order of 60%
- Rise from the Bitcoin mining problem, that is, more machines around the world that reduced the possibility of generating new currencies
- A summer with a historic heat peak in Tierra del Fuego, which made it difficult to cool the machines
- Type of change: the high temperatures ended up damaging supplies (such as cables) that, in the absence of a stable dollar, were difficult to obtain in the local market
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Walter Salama, COO of BitPatagonia
Meanwhile, Bitcoin remained at very low values. This caused the business to be unprofitable and the main global mining companies to "shut down" or close, as iProUP reported.
"They started calling us other Argentines who had mining machines and who wanted to send them to our sheds, because it is increasingly difficult to mine well if you are not 24 hours above the operation," the executive points out to iProUP.
According to calculations of the company, in January there were 1.3 million machines connected to the system and reached the peak of 3.8 million in September. But at the end of the year that number collapsed to 2.85 million.
"You can estimate that 350 mining companies closed and could not bank that moment, our conviction won over the crisis," says Salama.
Firm in the South
Despite the fact that the economy of Tierra del Fuego lives the throbbing of a pressed consumption, which replicates the lower production of electronics plants, Salama believes that the province has a golden chance to convert to the data center industry .
And not only because it has the right climate to cool servers, but because of the availability of human talent and specialized suppliers that the company was helping to create.
"The island has a large number of qualified people, who were trained in China, Japan and South Korea, they could work in several areas, such as electricity, software and infrastructure, but since there is no production, they could migrate, which would be damaging very big for the province, "he warns.
According to the manager, it is an opportunity to "rebuild the productive fabric" of the province and imitate countries that "receive the investment of this industry with enthusiasm", with several players looking to lead it Canada, Iceland, Russia, China and United States United.
BitPatagonia remains firm in its choice of Tierra del Fuego to develop the business and its number of shareholders - all Argentine - went from 70 to 90 in recent months. Among them, there are relevant entrepreneurs of electronic commerce, health and banking, among other items.
According to Salama, the commitment to continue betting on the blockchain ecosystem on the Island of all investors who "accompanied the risk of investing in our country and not in another destination" is maintained.
Salama refers to Canada, the nation that attracts the most mining farms (some of them founded by Latin American entrepreneurs) and even tried to seduce BitPatagonia. In addition, the company also received offers from Paraguay, another of the markets in the region that wants to position itself in Industry 4.0.
Who bets on Bitcoin, do you win?
In recent weeks, Bitcoin appreciated to US $ 13,000, dropped to US $ 10,000 and is parking in the order of US $ 12,000. Well above the $ 3.800 in which started 2019. With such fluctuations, the small saver sees with fear the possibility of betting this currency.
"There are as many opinions as analysts, among the pessimists and the optimists, we are going down the middle lane, I think the climb started very early and surprised several, we add to the optimistic projections of 20,000 or 30,000 dollars by the end of the year" , says Salama.
At this point, he assures that the graphs show that the currency is going to correct at any time and resume with a greater envion. The executive follows the minute by minute of the main virtual currencies and is sure that Bitcoin -a decade from its birth- is entering a consolidation phase.
"It showed that it has endured a great media struggle, before when an organization launched an announcement, Bitcoin varied, today it has its autonomy, it is more supported between uses and as investment instruments," says Salama.
To illustrate, the expert cites the case of Binance, an exchange (virtual exchange house) that was hacked two months ago and that could have pushed the price down. But the currency was valued.
Salama exposes another sign of this evolution of cryptoeconomics, with some recent facts that show how the world of finance is relying on digital currency:
- JP Morgan always claimed that they were a scam, but in February he announced that he will create his own virtual currency
- Goldman Sachs invested $ 400 million in an exchange and could also create a digital currency
- The Fidelity fund is offering its clients instruments in cryptoactive
- The mobile operator AT & T allows its 153 million subscribers to pay with bitcoins
"There are a lot of banks that went out to buy exchanges, we are going through the dejavú of the .com: traditional companies are buying or taking part in virtual currency firms," ââsays Salama.
According to the executive, there is no perceived "black swan" on the horizon that could threaten the price of the leading digital currency, although he claims that these threats are all explained later by "Monday's newspaper".
However, he warns that there could always be a great whale, that is, "strong players who sell all their bitcoins because another currency overcame the charm or another simple reason".
Libra, from Facebook, will it be one of them? "From May 8 to 28, Bitcoin went up 40%, and Libra was not there," the executive responds to iProUP, who believes that the second semester will show an expansion of Bitcoin.
"At the beginning of the year, specialists and fund leaders predicted that it would be at $ 10,000 or $ 15,000 this year, prices that seemed very far in January," the Pantera Capital digital assets fund predicted to be at $ 67. 500 at the end of the year, in December we will see which one was the best, "he emphasizes.
In this sense, the BitPatagonia COO ensures that "there are investors who bet on the 'cryptoguinaldo', which is people who buy $ 500 or $ 1,000 and if the forecasts are met they can make a big difference".
With half of his time in Tierra del Fuego and the other half in Buenos Aires, Salama rarely withdraws his gaze from a panel showing the activity of the main blockchain datacenter in Latin America and the price of the main virtual currencies.
Just as Bitcoin starts another stage, BitPatagonia also: in the company they prepare two projects to continue with the consolidation of the national blockchain industry. And they hope to deepen the joint work between the public and private sector so that Argentina is positioned among the leading regions of this technology.
