As the economic crisis continues to shut down businesses everywhere, many struggle to find new ways to stay profitable, except these guys.
Thinking Outside the Box
They say when one door closes, another one opens and outside the box thinking has become a necessity for many business owners during the pandemic. For some, cryptocurrency has become a savior and internet cafés in China are finding ways to explore it.
Computers Are Back to Work
With half empty facilities just sitting there, around 13,000 internet cafés have chosen to set up crypto-mining farms after having to temporarily shut down during 2020. Instead of customers using the high-end computers to work, study, play games or mindlessly surf the web, they are being used to mine digital assets.
Considering the fact that some of the cafés have up to 200 computers running, they are definitely able to pocket some much needed cash. According to reports, some cafés are managing to earn more than $6,200 on a monthly basis in virtual currencies. Not a bad backup plan during these challenging times!
Cryptocurrency to the Rescue
Only operating at 50% capacity, owner Wang Xi says mining is done at his café when the computers are idle. Xi began mining in September 2020 and reveals that he has managed to bring in more than $31,000 since then, helping him put food on the table for his family.
Stating the obvious that the profitability of digital asset mining is the reason behind the movement, Xi continues:
“ Due to the impact of last year’s epidemic, Internet cafes were closed for a long time, and the flow of people was not particularly large. Only recently has it improved slightly. As far as I know, most Internet cafes in the entire Nantong urban area have chosen to mine”.
The Power Is There to Be Used
For those of you curious about what type of rig his café is using, like a proud father he is more than happy to share the information:
“ I have a shop computer that uses a 1060 5GB graphics card. The mining power is 15 MB, and the income per trillion is 0.8 yuan. If you calculate the amount of 100 computers, the monthly income is 37,000 yuan ($5,750). The electricity consumption in the industry is only 0.6 yuan/kWh”.
More Countries to Do the Same
China isn’t the only country where café owners are turning to mining to make extra money. South Korea is also jumping on the mining train and café owners are reporting monthly profits of $7,750.
What Does the Future Hold?
This situation does leave us with a question. If mining turns out to be more profitable than their normal business, what are the chances cafés will stick to mining instead of going back to coffée and sandwiches? Just a thought.
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