Appalachia residents claim they are being kicked out of their neighborhood after crypto mine opened

Residents of a North Carolina Appalachian town say they are being forced from their homes by a noisy cryptocurrency mine that has sparked petitions and protests.

The installation in Murphy, one of two in Cherokee County, has consistently produced a sound that resident Mike Lugiewicz describes as “a little plane that never goes away.” In September, a mine was described as ‘more expensive than meat production’.

Sound meters operated by Lugiewicz in his yard showed the incessant noise from stacks of computer servers and cooling fans rated at 55 to 85 decibels.

“There’s a racetrack three miles from here,” Lugiewicz said. The cars are heard moving. It’s great!’

“But at least they stop,” added neighbor Judy Stines. CNN. And you can go to bed!

Crypto bans by places like China have led those looking to harvest to look for locations along the Appalachian Mountains, as power is relatively affordable and regulation is generally non-existent in those areas.

A company called PrimeBlock has bought a dozen mines in North Carolina, as well as Tennessee and Kentucky.

The San Francisco-based company has secured about $300 million in equity financing and is likely to go public soon.

Despite a largely Republican and Libertarian base, the noise has forced residents to demand that their local government do something about it, with the Board of Commissioners recently calling on state and federal officials to regulate crypto mining.

“Personally, I think if we can get a bill into the system, other (North Carolina) counties will join in,” Chairman Cal Stiles said.

Chandler Song, PrimeBlock’s co-founder and chief innovation officer, said such a regulation would be “unconstitutional, to say the least,” saying of the locals, “Wow, they loved us so much a year ago.”

Resident Mike Lugiewicz (pictured left) describes the noise as “a little plane that never goes away.”

Crypto bans by places like China have led those looking to harvest to look for locations along the Appalachian Mountains, as power is relatively affordable and regulation is generally non-existent in those areas.

There were plans for PrimeBlock representatives to speak at a Cherokee County Board meeting, but County Commission Chairman Dan Eichenbaum said they decided not to attend because someone shot at one of the service lines.

Since then, Song has said he hasn’t heard any complaints from the county, but promised PrimeBlock would build soundproofing walls and install water-based cooling systems that make sound, the Washington Post informed.

They did, but only on two sides of the mine before construction stopped, which only made the residents more angry.

Both Song and co-founder Ryan Fang appeared on a 2017 Forbes list of young entrepreneurs who were able to raise more than $10 million in project funding.

PrimeBlock claimed nearly $25 million in revenue in Q4 2021 and an estimated enterprise value of $1.25 billion.

Despite a largely Republican and Libertarian base, the noise has forced residents to demand that their local government do something about it, with the Board of Commissioners (pictured) recently calling on state and federal officials to regulate crypto mining .

Chandler Song, PrimeBlock’s co-founder and chief innovation officer, said such regulation would be “unconstitutional, to say the least,” saying of locals: “Wow, they loved us so much a year ago.”

Song has not yet responded to any follow-up questions. DailyMail.com has reached out to a PrimeBlock spokesperson for comment.

Mines have been blamed, along with winter storms, for rolling blackouts on power grids built by the Tennessee Valley Authority, a rare occurrence in the history of the New Deal-era program. The mine never closed.

“They shut us down on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day every hour for anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes to an hour,” resident Ron Wright said. ‘Well, once the power goes out, the heat pumps shut down and the pipes freeze.’

Lugiewicz and Stines are still fighting, but Lugiewicz has put up a for sale sign on his house.

“September 2021, I think, is when they turned this on and my wife and I just shook our heads and said, ‘No, we’re out of here.’

Despite promises that PrimeBlock would build soundproofing walls and install sound-emitting water-based cooling systems, they only built them on two sides of the mine before construction was halted, further angering the mine. the residents.

Mines have been blamed, along with winter storms, for rolling blackouts on power grids built by the Tennessee Valley Authority, a rare occurrence in the history of the New Deal-era program. The mine never closed

Murphy’s facility made waves in neighboring Clay County, which enacted a ban on commercial crypto mining last August.

“Regarding environmental impacts, the board found that cryptocurrency mining contributes to climate change, noise pollution, environmental devastation, immense amounts of energy used, including but not limited to electrical power,” the ordinance states.

County Commissioner Clay Logan told the Clay County Progress it was ‘just good common sense’.

Both cambio.org and the sierra club They have launched petitions against the mines.