At a remote farm set in idyllic countryside in north-west Wales, a farmer is taking advantage of the huge amounts of manure his cows and sheep churn out daily to cash in on the craze for crypto coins.
Instead of relying solely on his biofuel plant to create renewable energy for the National Grid, Philip Hughes has a much more lucrative plan for his animals' "cow muck": he uses it to power computers that mine digital coins such as Ethereum.
The biofuel process uses a six-cylinder engine that turns methane emitted from the decomposing manure into electricity in a process called anaerobic digestion.
While two thirds of the electricity produced helps to power his farm and adjoining caravan park, the rest powers specialist computers known as mining rigs.
Josh Riddett, 30, founder of Easy Crypto Hunter, in Manchester, which supplies mining rigs like the one Mr Hughes uses, said more than 40 British farmers who produce renewable energy, including wind, hydro, solar and bio-fuel, now have one of his kits.
"Farming is becoming harder and harder in the UK, so farmers are actively looking to make other incomes … and sometimes setting up a dairy ice cream shop is not an option," Mr Riddett told The National.
“Mr Hughes already had the renewable energy site running and he was looking for ways to monetise it because those sites cost millions of pounds and it would take years for him to get his money back. So, if he can actively do something to make more money from the electricity he's generating, that's very helpful.”
Mr Riddett, who set up his business in 2017, has sold about 1,000 computers across the UK and overseas and said he would happily supply the Middle East market if the demand were there.
The financial potential of mining crypto
The powerful rigs, the size of a suitcase, verify crypto transactions in a process that produces newly minted coins with the majority bought by investors or people simply looking to earn extra income.
However, renewable energy farmers like Mr Hughes are sensing the financial potential of mining for crypto.
While farmers used to earn “attractive subsidies” by selling the renewable electricity they produce from biofuel, solar power or wind turbines back to the National Grid, these have dwindled over the past few years.
“Now, if you want to build a solar panel farm, you'd struggle to make the numbers work. It's not necessarily financially viable,” Mr Riddett said.
“At the moment, a farmer might get five or six pence per kilowatt of electric, whereas if you take that one kilowatt and run it through one of my machines, you might end up earning £1 or £1.50 per kilowatt, so it's a huge uplift.”
For Mr Hughes, whose family have worked on his farm for generations, mining Ethereum is hardly the natural next step, but he described it as a profitable enterprise that has delivered a good return and provides “a bit of fun”.
Anyone with a power source can buy a rig
A rig, which costs £18,000, can mine about 800 digital currencies but Mr Riddett’s kit does not focus on Bitcoin because the rewards from the other coins are “more profitable and more energy efficient”.
While renewable energy is one way to power the machines, anyone with a source of electricity can buy one.
The rigs literally just need a plug socket and an internet connection.
“It literally just needs a plug socket and an internet connection and it would add about £180 a month to your electricity bill,” Mr Riddett said.
"But if you do produce your own power, then obviously your electric bill is going to be a little bit cheaper.”
The amount miners earn depends on the value of the coin, with current profits about £1,500 to £2,000 a month, although the figure was as high as £3,000 earlier in the year.
The value of Ethereum, which doesn’t attract as much media attention as Bitcoin, has risen more than 800 per cent to $1,780 over the past year with highs of more than $3,000 last month and analysts expecting it to reach $5,000.
While Mr Hughes, who bought the kit two years ago, realises his business produces an asset, the value of which can fluctuate sharply on a single remark by Elon Musk, he is ready put the rigs' computing power to other uses should the market collapse.
"The components of these machines are physically worth a lot of money. So, even if hypothetically Bitcoin went to zero tomorrow, you still own all the physical equipment which has its place outside of the crypto world,” Mr Riddett said.
The farmer has taken the process one step further, leasing out his renewable energy to 50 rig owners.
“We have a hosting site at Philip’s farm where some of our clients who don’t want a machine in their house might opt to host that machine and pay a monthly fee,” Mr Riddett said.
He said his clients include lawyers, police officers and doctors, as well as property investors or high net-worth individuals looking to earn additional income.
“We build the kit, show people how to use it and give them that independence. Rather than spending all your money on some type of coin, we give people the option to buy the actual hardware that sits underneath all of this crypto. So, you can kind of mine lots of different coins and get involved in the creation of it all,” Mr Riddett said.
The cost to the climate of the crypto mining industry
The scheme is not without its critics – the crypto mining business consumes vast amounts of energy.
A single transaction of Bitcoin, for example, has the same carbon footprint as 680,000 Visa transactions or 51,210 hours of watching YouTube, Cambridge’s Centre for Alternative Finances said.
The creators of Ethereum, considered the second most popular crypto, said they would change the currency’s algorithm to make its mining more environmentally friendly.
While environmentalists might argue that the renewable energy powering crypto mining machines is not helping the planet, Yanislav Malahov, a crypto and blockchain technology expert known as the Godfather of Ethereum, said product was the problem, not electricity consumption.
"We need to find better ways of producing green electricity and moving away from the era of the fossil fuels. Cryptocurrencies might be very instrumental to essentially fund such new energy production systems and move into this new era," Mr Malahov said at a global trade webinar earlier this week.
Mr Riddett said his concept was triggering an increase in renewable energy investment.
“Because the multiplier of the return is so attractive, it's making people build new green energy sites and is an independent way of financing new green energy locations and expanding existing locations to which you might only have 20 or 30 per cent of the whole power of that new site used on crypto," he said.
“That covers all the money that you need to run the site, while the remaining power in there makes it to the grid. So, as a net enterprise, there's a really attractive environmental angle because it's the financial mechanism behind creating new green energy sites, which wouldn't have been financed otherwise.”
Mr Riddett said 95 per cent of his clients had never before been involved in crypto but they were interested in alternative investments.
Ultimately, as Mr Hughes said: "It’s a lot easier to run a computer than a herd of cows or a flock of sheep."
Our legal consultants
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
SPECS
Engine: Two-litre four-cylinder turbo
Power: 235hp
Torque: 350Nm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Price: From Dh167,500 ($45,000)
On sale: Now
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final, second leg
Real Madrid (2) v Bayern Munich (1)
Where: Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid
When: 10.45pm, Tuesday
Watch Live: beIN Sports HD
What can you do?
Document everything immediately; including dates, times, locations and witnesses
Seek professional advice from a legal expert
You can report an incident to HR or an immediate supervisor
You can use the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation’s dedicated hotline
In criminal cases, you can contact the police for additional support
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
How to play the stock market recovery in 2021?
If you are looking to build your long-term wealth in 2021 and beyond, the stock market is still the best place to do it as equities powered on despite the pandemic.
Investing in individual stocks is not for everyone and most private investors should stick to mutual funds and ETFs, but there are some thrilling opportunities for those who understand the risks.
Peter Garnry, head of equity strategy at Saxo Bank, says the 20 best-performing US and European stocks have delivered an average return year-to-date of 148 per cent, measured in local currency terms.
Online marketplace Etsy was the best performer with a return of 330.6 per cent, followed by communications software company Sinch (315.4 per cent), online supermarket HelloFresh (232.8 per cent) and fuel cells specialist NEL (191.7 per cent).
Mr Garnry says digital companies benefited from the lockdown, while green energy firms flew as efforts to combat climate change were ramped up, helped in part by the European Union’s green deal.
Electric car company Tesla would be on the list if it had been part of the S&P 500 Index, but it only joined on December 21. “Tesla has become one of the most valuable companies in the world this year as demand for electric vehicles has grown dramatically,” Mr Garnry says.
By contrast, the 20 worst-performing European stocks fell 54 per cent on average, with European banks hit by the economic fallout from the pandemic, while cruise liners and airline stocks suffered due to travel restrictions.
As demand for energy fell, the oil and gas industry had a tough year, too.
Mr Garnry says the biggest story this year was the “absolute crunch” in so-called value stocks, companies that trade at low valuations compared to their earnings and growth potential.
He says they are “heavily tilted towards financials, miners, energy, utilities and industrials, which have all been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic”. “The last year saw these cheap stocks become cheaper and expensive stocks have become more expensive.”
This has triggered excited talk about the “great value rotation” but Mr Garnry remains sceptical. “We need to see a breakout of interest rates combined with higher inflation before we join the crowd.”
Always remember that past performance is not a guarantee of future returns. Last year’s winners often turn out to be this year’s losers, and vice-versa.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Zimbabwe v UAE, ODI series
All matches at the Harare Sports Club:
1st ODI, Wednesday, April 10
2nd ODI, Friday, April 12
3rd ODI, Sunday, April 14
4th ODI, Tuesday, April 16
UAE squad: Mohammed Naveed (captain), Rohan Mustafa, Ashfaq Ahmed, Shaiman Anwar, Mohammed Usman, CP Rizwan, Chirag Suri, Mohammed Boota, Ghulam Shabber, Sultan Ahmed, Imran Haider, Amir Hayat, Zahoor Khan, Qadeer Ahmed
List of alleged parties
May 15 2020: PM and Carrie attend 'work meeting' with at
least 17 staff members
May 20 2020: PM and Carrie attend 'bring your own booze'
party
Nov 27 2020: PM gives speech at leaving do for his staff
Dec 10 2020: Staff party held by then-education secretary
Gavin Williamson
Dec 13 2020: PM and Carrie throw a flat party
Dec 14 2020: London mayor candidate Shaun Bailey holds staff party at Conservative
Party headquarters
Dec 15 2020: PM takes part in a staff quiz
Dec 18 2020: Downing Street Christmas party
Zayed Sustainability Prize
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Huddersfield Town permanent signings:
- Steve Mounie (striker): signed from Montpellier for £11 million
- Tom Ince (winger): signed from Derby County for £7.7m
- Aaron Mooy (midfielder): signed from Manchester City for £7.7m
- Laurent Depoitre (striker): signed from Porto for £3.4m
- Scott Malone (defender): signed from Fulham for £3.3m
- Zanka (defender): signed from Copenhagen for £2.3m
- Elias Kachunga (winger): signed for Ingolstadt for £1.1m
- Danny WIlliams (midfielder): signed from Reading on a free transfer
The%C2%A0specs%20
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'Top Gun: Maverick'
Rating: 4/5
Directed by: Joseph Kosinski
Starring: Tom Cruise, Val Kilmer, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Miles Teller, Glen Powell, Ed Harris
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
Points about the fast fashion industry Celine Hajjar wants everyone to know
- Fast fashion is responsible for up to 10 per cent of global carbon emissions
- Fast fashion is responsible for 24 per cent of the world's insecticides
- Synthetic fibres that make up the average garment can take hundreds of years to biodegrade
- Fast fashion labour workers make 80 per cent less than the required salary to live
- 27 million fast fashion workers worldwide suffer from work-related illnesses and diseases
- Hundreds of thousands of fast fashion labourers work without rights or protection and 80 per cent of them are women
Sholto Byrnes on Myanmar politics
More on Coronavirus in France
Start-up hopes to end Japan's love affair with cash
Across most of Asia, people pay for taxi rides, restaurant meals and merchandise with smartphone-readable barcodes — except in Japan, where cash still rules. Now, as the country’s biggest web companies race to dominate the payments market, one Tokyo-based startup says it has a fighting chance to win with its QR app.
Origami had a head start when it introduced a QR-code payment service in late 2015 and has since signed up fast-food chain KFC, Tokyo’s largest cab company Nihon Kotsu and convenience store operator Lawson. The company raised $66 million in September to expand nationwide and plans to more than double its staff of about 100 employees, says founder Yoshiki Yasui.
Origami is betting that stores, which until now relied on direct mail and email newsletters, will pay for the ability to reach customers on their smartphones. For example, a hair salon using Origami’s payment app would be able to send a message to past customers with a coupon for their next haircut.
Quick Response codes, the dotted squares that can be read by smartphone cameras, were invented in the 1990s by a unit of Toyota Motor to track automotive parts. But when the Japanese pioneered digital payments almost two decades ago with contactless cards for train fares, they chose the so-called near-field communications technology. The high cost of rolling out NFC payments, convenient ATMs and a culture where lost wallets are often returned have all been cited as reasons why cash remains king in the archipelago. In China, however, QR codes dominate.
Cashless payments, which includes credit cards, accounted for just 20 per cent of total consumer spending in Japan during 2016, compared with 60 per cent in China and 89 per cent in South Korea, according to a report by the Bank of Japan.
Company%C2%A0profile
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RESULTS
Welterweight
Tohir Zhuraev (TJK) beat Mostafa Radi (PAL)
(Unanimous points decision)
Catchweight 75kg
Anas Siraj Mounir (MAR) beat Leandro Martins (BRA)
(Second round knockout)
Flyweight (female)
Manon Fiorot (FRA) beat Corinne Laframboise (CAN)
(RSC in third round)
Featherweight
Bogdan Kirilenko (UZB) beat Ahmed Al Darmaki
(Disqualification)
Lightweight
Izzedine Al Derabani (JOR) beat Rey Nacionales (PHI)
(Unanimous points)
Featherweight
Yousef Al Housani (UAE) beat Mohamed Fargan (IND)
(TKO first round)
Catchweight 69kg
Jung Han-gook (KOR) beat Max Lima (BRA)
(First round submission by foot-lock)
Catchweight 71kg
Usman Nurmogamedov (RUS) beat Jerry Kvarnstrom (FIN)
(TKO round 1).
Featherweight title (5 rounds)
Lee Do-gyeom (KOR) v Alexandru Chitoran (ROU)
(TKO round 1).
Lightweight title (5 rounds)
Bruno Machado (BRA) beat Mike Santiago (USA)
(RSC round 2).
Champions parade (UAE timings)
7pm Gates open
8pm Deansgate stage showing starts
9pm Parade starts at Manchester Cathedral
9.45pm Parade ends at Peter Street
10pm City players on stage
11pm event ends
SUZUME
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge – Rally schedule:
Saturday: Super Special Spectator Stage – Yas Marina Circuit – start 3.30pm.
Sunday: Yas Marina Circuit Stage 1 (276.01km)
Monday: Nissan Stage 2 (287.92km)
Tuesday: Al Ain Water Stage 3 (281.38km)
Wednesday: ADNOC Stage 4 (244.49km)
Thursday: Abu Dhabi Aviation Stage 5 (218.57km) Finish: Yas Marina Circuit – 4.30pm.
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Company%20profile
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Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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1.
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United States
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2.
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China
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3.
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UAE
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4.
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Japan
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5
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Norway
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6.
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Canada
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7.
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Singapore
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8.
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Australia
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9.
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Saudi Arabia
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10.
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South Korea
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Book%20Details
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