Bretagnehof in Woensel, near Eindhoven. Residents do not have access to their own garage, and have to ride bicycles or park their cars further away. Neighborhood kids have to cross a hole to get to the slide.

Reason? A neighbor wants to mine bitcoins. At the end of January, there should be a “thick knot” of power cables between the power plant and the house. To supply 600 amperes of current. Good for about 120 refrigerators. In a residential house.

Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency; A digital payment method that people speculate or invest in, exactly how you see it. This system requires a lot of computing power. This is partly due to complex computations to verify transactions in a decentralized manner. This uses so much energy worldwide that it can power a country like Norway.

How can a house in the middle of a typical residential area be turned into an energy-intensive bitcoin miner? easy. The resident concerned filled out an application form more accurately. The municipality of Eindhoven has duly fulfilled this request. The reason given was “unnecessary”. The network company Enexis provides the connections and cabling, and the contractor does the rest. cost? The resident pays for it the amount of a “beautiful car,” according to the contractor.

While hundreds of thousands of families live in energy poverty, this neighbor could start making money starting in February. If his computer is the first to solve a calculation, he will get 6.25 bitcoins with a bunch of other miners. At the current exchange rate, this is more than 230 thousand euros. every ten minutes.

Very profitable, such as the municipal office .. for energy wealth.

read The story in Eindhoven Dagblad.