The material geographies of Bitfury in Georgia: Integrating cryptoasset firms into global financial networks

Ryan Wyeth, Ludovico Rella and Ed Atkins
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Ryan Wyeth: Department of Spatial Management, Institute of Geography and Regional Development, University of Wrocław, Wrocław, Poland
Ludovico Rella: Department of Geography, Durham University, Durham, UK
Ed Atkins: School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK

Environment and Planning A, 2024, vol. 56, issue 3, 816-832

Abstract: Cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, have garnered significant attention in scholarship and beyond. Geographical work on cryptocurrencies has focussed on how their energy demand interacts with local communities and economies. Less is said about the organization of cryptoasset firms and their associated demands. This paper illuminates the complex geographies of one such firm, Bitfury Group, to investigate the global and national forms and structures such companies take and the factors encouraging them to concentrate operations in certain areas. To investigate the latter, we adopt the case study of Bitfury’s operations in Georgia, a South-Caucasian country where its presence is significant. We adapt Haberly et al.’s analytical framework to explore Bitfury’s geographical dimensions. We highlight how cheap electricity, regulatory and taxation regimes, personal encounters and personalities, and the materialities of hardware and energy-saving technology define these geographies and illuminate how Bitfury actively curates advantageous regulatory spaces. We encourage future work exploring Blockchain and Bitcoin technologies to understand the companies involved as simultaneously material and virtual, and as centrepieces in global networks interweaving production and finance.

Keywords: Cryptocurrencies; Bitcoin; Georgia; global financial networks; Bitfury (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:envira:v:56:y:2024:i:3:p:816-832

DOI: 10.1177/0308518X231211789

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