EKIBASTUZ, Kazakhstan -- A bank of transformers hums and crackles by the entrance to BTC.kz's data center on the outskirts of Ekibastuz in northeastern Kazakhstan. It is hooked up to a network of overhead cables that stretches for thousands of kilometers across the empty steppe. Billows of steam from two immense power plants stand over the landscape, which is flat and sepia all the way to the horizon.
Money machines: Bitcoin mines are banks of computers dedicated to guessing a 64-digit number in order to win cryptocurrency. Here, ASICs -- specialized bitcoin mining computers -- have been stacked up in the corridors of a mine in Ekibastuz. (Photo by Peter Guest)
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