KnCMiner has unveiled a new cloud-mining service, offering six-month contracts out of its Arctic bitcoin mine.

KnC Cloud, launched on 2nd September, leverages the company’s existing data center space in northern Sweden. The so-called Clear Sky mine boasts more than 7 petahashes per second in estimated mining power.

KnCMiner said the program will benefit from the cheap cooling and local renewable energy sources afforded by the Arctic Circle. These geographical advantages have led many companies in the bitcoin mining space to look to the Arctic, potentially establishing the region as a key battleground in the race to generate bitcoins.

KnCMiner director of marketing and public relations Nanok Bie told CoinDesk that the launch reflects a demographic shift taking place among the bitcoin community, with more miners opting to outsource their hashing power rather than operate home mining rigs.

He noted:

“We’re launching cloud services because of shifts in the market and demand from would-be customers. Home mining is becoming more and more difficult because of energy costs etc. Having your mining in the cloud has obvious advantages – we can source green electricity cheaper for instance, and have other bulk advantages.”

Next-generation services

The KnC Cloud service consists of three different packages between 1 and 3 TH/s, with the cost averaging between $1.99 per GH/s to $1.79 per GH/s, respectively. According to the company, the hosting costs account for any mining-related fees and reflect the actual price of the service.

Bie explained that the service is indicative of how next-generation mining services may evolve in the months and years ahead, with offerings including more sophisticated resources and value-added services driven by demand.

He told CoinDesk:

“We think our offerings will stand out over the long run, as customers don’t have to stand in line in an auction, don’t have to worry about the Chinese renminbi currency exchange versus USD or BTC to calculate costs going forward and we’re also not offering strange products where the users don’t know where they are mining, if they are mining at all etc. Our fees can not rise over time as there are no fees.”

Like other cloud hosting solutions in the mining space, KnC Cloud offers a proprietary user interface that provides tools for miner configuration and balance management, as well as data for performance analysis.

Product expansion continues

The launch of its new cloud hosting follows a string of announcements from the Sweden-based mining company.

Earlier this month, the company said that its Titan line of scrypt miners had entered the final stages of production and that it was moving to the testing phase at its facilities. At the time, KnCMiner clarified the unit’s final projected hashing power as well as its expected power requirements.

KnCMiner’s software offerings also received an update this week. Joining a growing list of companies that opt to use the denomination, KnCMiner announced on 27th August that its mobile wallet app would use ‘bits’ instead of BTC.

The summer hasn’t been entirely rosy for the company, however.

In June, KnCMiner took to social media to defend itself against a rising customer backlash regarding its policies. Customers accused the company of reneging on earlier promises related to its then-delayed Neptune line of bitcoin miners.

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