走进“淘金”客——最大比特币矿厂大揭秘

10年前，内蒙古鄂尔多斯一度是中国最大的鬼城，到处是未完成或空置的建筑物，现在，拥有200万人口的鄂尔多斯已经成为世界比特币矿业中心。

Ten years ago, the Inner Mongolia Ordos was once the largest ghost town in China, full of unfinished or vacant buildings, and now has Ordos, which has a population of 2 million, become the world's centre for bitcoin mining.

在内蒙古达拉特旗，被当地人称之为达拉特经济开发区的地方，坐落着全球最大的比特币矿场之一。图为比特大陆位于内蒙古鄂尔多斯的比特币挖矿设备。

The Nagungu Darat flag, where locals call it the Darat economic development zone, sits on one of the largest bitcoin mines in the world. The map is a bitcoin mining facility in Inner Mongolia's Ordos.

图为2017年8月11日，密密麻麻的插头。工厂里面，没有重工业机械，工人们照看着一排排电脑-总共近2.5万台。

The figure is 11 August 2017, a dense mahjong plug. There are no heavy industrial machinery in the factory, and the workers look at a row of computers -- almost 25,000 in total.

全球最大的比特币矿机制造商是北京比特大陆，据联合创始人吴忌寒透露，鄂尔多斯的矿产每天约能产生25万美元的收入。

The world's largest producer of bitcoin machines is the Peking Bit continent, where, according to the co-founder, Wu Yim, Ordos'minerals generate about $250,000 a day.

图为2017年8月11日，工厂里的电压表。据悉，矿场里没有重工业机械，工人们照看着一排排电脑-总共近2.5万台，光是每天的电费都要消耗30万元。

On August 11, 2017, the plant’s voltage meters were reported to be empty of heavy industrial machinery, and workers looked at a row of computers – close to 25,000 in total – and spent $300,000 per day on electricity alone.

“之前我对比特币不了解，”28岁的当地居民李双生说。他负责维持八座工厂中一座的运行。大约一个月前，他开始在比特大陆的达拉特工厂工作。在这个人口稀少的地区，这是为数不多的一个报酬丰厚的工作机会。

& ldquo; I didn't know by bitcoin, ” 28-year-old local resident Li Junsheng said. He was responsible for running one of the eight factories. About a month ago, he started working at the Darat factory on the Bit continent. In this sparsely populated area, this is a small, well-paid job.

李双生尚未购买比特币，但他喜欢这份工作，有空的时候，会在网上研究比特币。“现在，”他说，“我大概对比特币有一些了解了。”

Li Junsheng has not yet bought bitcoin, but he likes the job, and when he has time, he studies bitcoin online. & ldquao; now, &rdquao; he says, &ldquao; I probably know bitcoin. & rdquao;

矿场里的很多人都经历了当地经济的起起落落。1997年，白小兔从一家国营家具厂下岗。之后他打过各种工，去年12月，他开始在比特大陆的达拉特矿场当清洁工。

Many people in the mines experienced the rise and fall of the local economy. In 1997, little white rabbits were laid off from a state-run furniture factory. He then worked a variety of jobs, and in December last year he started cleaning at the Darat mine on the Bit continent.

“咱们矿场现在有员工50人左右，”比特大陆达拉特工厂的厂长王伟说。36岁的王伟是当地人，曾做过煤矿销售员，他在大约六个月前购买了一个比特币。现在它的价值翻了一倍多。“我挣了不少钱，”他说。图为工作人员把水箱装满水，防止电脑死机或起火。

& ldquo; our mine now has about 50 employees, & & rdquo; Wang Wei, the director of the Darat factory on the Bit continent, says. Wang Wei, 36, a local, was a coal salesman, bought a bitcoin about six months ago. Now it's more than doubled. & ldquo; I made a lot of money, & & rdquo; he says. The plan is to fill the water tank with water to prevent the death of a computer or a fire.

图为2017年8月11日，工作人员拿着笔记本电脑沿走廊巡视，寻找出故障的地方，检查线路连接。

The figure is 11 August 2017, where staff members patrol the corridor with laptops, search for malfunctioning areas and check the connection.

“你看这两边净是废弃的厂，”53岁的白小兔说。他有着一张饱经风霜的脸。“好多厂都不景气。”不过，对大部分人来说，这个行业依然很新鲜。

& ldquo; you see these two are abandoned plants, ” 53-year-old white rabbits. He's got a face full of rain. & ldquo; many plants are not cool. ” however, for most people, the industry is still fresh.

比特大陆矿池的一位清洁员正在用拖把清洁放置机器的架子。

A cleaner in the pit of the Bit continent is using a mop to clean up the shelf of the machine.

鄂尔多斯曾因煤矿而出名。最鼎盛的时候，这个地区的煤老板把当地房价炒到了2万元。

Ordos was famous for the coal mine. At the peak, the coal owner in the area fired $20,000 on the local house price.

但随着煤炭价格在2012到2016年之间出现腰斩，鄂尔多斯的煤炭神话就一去不复返了。现在遗留下来的，是一座座被抛弃了的煤炭加工厂和萧条的工业园区。

But with coal prices appearing between 2012 and 2016, the myth of coal in Ordos is gone. What is left is a abandoned coal processing plant and a depressed industrial park.

“高工资”、“有前途”。鄂尔多斯的煤炭业风光不再。但新兴的比特币挖矿业却给衰落的鄂尔多斯带来了一丝新鲜空气。鄂尔多斯的矿池一个小时要烧掉40兆瓦电，相当于12000个家庭同期的用电量。

& ldquo; high wages & & rdquao; & & & & rdquao; promising & rdquao;

矿池拥有8个长达150米的单层仓库，其中的7个仓库共摆放了21000台比特币挖矿机器，另外一个仓库则放置了4000台莱特币挖矿机器。

The pond has eight single-storey warehouses of up to 150 metres, of which seven have 21,000 bitcoin mining machines in place, while another warehouse has 4,000 Letco machines in place.

工人们白天的上班时间是早上8点半到下午6点半。在这段时间里，一个工人至少要检查完一个仓库的矿机，也就是3000-4000台，工作量十分巨大。

Workers work from 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. during this period, a worker has to inspect at least one of the mine machines in the warehouse, 3,000 to 4000 units.

一个工人说：“到了七月中，室外温度高于36度的时候，修机器的速度根本比不上机器坏掉的速度。”他们忙得喘不过气。为了保证挖矿正常进行，早班晚班反复颠倒，周末的假期无法得到保障。矿池里人手紧张，在工人们看来，“两天”的假期已经算得上是长假了。

One worker said: “ by mid-July, when the outdoor temperature was above 36 degrees, the machine was being repaired at a speed that did not match the rate of its failure. & & & rdquo; they were too busy to breathe. In order to ensure that the mining was going well, the morning and evening shifts were turned upside down, and the weekends were not guaranteed. People in the pond were nervous, and, in the opinion of the workers, &ldquao; two days & rdquo; the holidays were long.

维修工作十分枯燥。他们要拿着电脑一个个地对机器做测试。同样的动作和流程一天要重复许多遍。一天下来，每个仓库出现故障的机器一般有10台左右。遇上高温天气，故障数量还要翻倍。

The maintenance work is boring. They're going to test the machine with a computer. The same moves and processes are repeated many times a day. After a day, there are usually about 10 machines that fail in each warehouse. In hot weather, the number of malfunctions is doubled.

图为鄂尔多斯比特大陆矿池的维修工人。

The figure is a maintenance worker for the Ordosbit continental pond.

矿厂需要吹风降温。

Mines need to cool down by blowing winds.

每栋楼都有一整排大型工业风机向外吹风，而对面的墙上布满了这种奇怪的材料。

Each building has a row of large industrial windmills that blow out, and the walls on the other side are filled with this strange material.

他们使用是一种蒸发冷却系统来给矿机们降暑，这是一种利用自然环境空气中的干球温度与露点温度差。

They use a evaporation cooling system to heat the machines, which is the difference between the dry ball temperature in the air of the natural environment and the open point temperature.

通过水与空气之间的热湿交换来获取冷量的一种环保高效且经济的冷却方式。

An environmentally efficient and economical mode of cooling to obtain cooling through heat-wet exchange between water and air.

冷却系统似乎很有效，仓库内的温度大约只有25摄氏度（77°F）。

The cooling system appears to be effective, with a temperature of approximately 25°C in the warehouse (77° F).

这个矿场的电力消耗量是惊人的，看看用来运行整个矿场的电缆长什么样。

The power consumption of the mine is alarming, and it looks like the cable used to run the entire mine.

矿场经营者说他们至少使用了15根这样的电缆。

Mine operators said they used at least 15 such cables.

矿场经营者表示，每个仓库需要花15天的时间来建设，然后又要花掉10天的时间部署矿机。

Mine operators indicated that each warehouse would take 15 days to build and then another 10 days to deploy the mine machine.

这里还设有了几个辅助建筑物，主要是为了安置这些庞大的变压器。

A number of support buildings are also available, mainly to accommodate these large transformers.

这里光是电费的开销每个月就要超过100万美元，这是什么概念！

The cost of electricity alone is over $1 million a month. What concept is that?

地上堆满了矿机包装盒，消耗量惊人。

The floor is full of mineral packaging boxes, with an alarming amount of consumption.

这里还有一张床，虽然这张床的作用是用来给工人们休息的，但是好并没有看到有人在那休息过。

There is also a bed where, although the function of the bed is to provide rest for the workers, it is good not to see anyone resting there.

这里部署了很多不同型号的比特币矿机。

There are a lot of different types of bitcoin machines deployed here.

这里还设有了几个辅助建筑物，主要是为了安置这些庞大的变压器。

A number of support buildings are also available, mainly to accommodate these large transformers.

这是夜间的矿场。

It's the mine at night.

虽然比特币的数量在减少，但是，由于比特币的价格不断走高，挖矿的收益依然诱人。图中机房中音量达到了95分贝，数千个ASIC芯片正在拼命工作，运算破解“哈希谜题”并获得比特币奖励。

Although the number of bitcoins is decreasing, the profits from mining continue to be attractive as the price of bitcoins rises. The volume of sound in the machine room reaches 95 decibels, thousands of ASIC chips are working hard to decipher & ldquao; the Hashi puzzle & rdquao; and the Bitcoin reward.