The Depths of Crypto Mining

Favorable power costs and relatively low land prices are two factors that have attracted cryptocurrency miners to the US state of Arkansas and Entergy Arkansas has been their power source. Now, those engaged in this burgeoning enterprise need to rely on a traditional bank instrument.

Entergy Arkansas, an investor-owned utility company, has indicated it will be assessing a “special tariff” for such customers who consume heavy power loads and density per square foot of operations and could have highly variable peaks and valleys in load demand. Entergy will require a three-month deposit from miners, in addition to a surety bond or letter of credit, Arkansas Business reported on 12 December 2022.

Citing that crypto miners are notably sensitive to volatile factors like the price of bitcoin and sometimes have little credit history, an Entergy spokesperson said that the tariff “includes language giving Entergy Arkansas the flexibility to objectively evaluate whether a particular customer is engaged in crypto mining”.