Power Block Coin, LLC, a subsidiary of Blue Castle Holdings has been given the go-ahead to establish a multimillion-dollar data center in the Montana Connections district.

The company is expected to invest about $251 million over the course of 3 years, culminating in the development of a campus of high-powered data centers in the Montana Connections district which lies west of Butte. The investment proposal was passed by the Butte-Silver Bow Council of Commissioners in a unanimous vote.

Details of the Investment Plan

The first part of the plan is the creation of available power resources to enable the functioning of the data centers. To this end, about 135 megawatts of electricity is required to power the campus of data centers.

Part of the proposal that the company submitted to county officials was the establishment of a new substation as well as other electricity infrastructure. This part of the proposal is estimated to cost somewhere between $8 million to $10 million. The establishment of these electricity infrastructures is expected to take about 2 years to complete.

The next part of the proposal is the establishment of between 70 to 200 separate units that would utilize the electricity generated on-campus. These units are expected to cost approximately $60 million and would primarily be used for cryptocurrency mining activities.

According to the plan, these separate units will be of varying sizes, ranging from large warehouse complexes to small shipping containers.

Speaking on the investment plan, the president and CEO of Blue Castle Holdings, Aaron Tilton said that work is expected to commence on the campus in the summer of 2018.

He also said that the first data center should be operational within the first 30 to 60 days after the initiation of the project with a target of 30 megawatts power generation by the end of 2018. The project when completed is expected to employ up to 50 people with about 15 positions being filled before the end of 2018.

The estimated salaries for workers will range from $37,000 to $48,000 per annum.

More than just Crypto Mining

While the primary purpose of the complex will be to engage in cryptocurrency mining operations, the infrastructure and the power being generated on-campus can also be utilized in other operations.

Aaron Tilton in an interview with the Montana Standard on Wednesday, February 23, 2018, said that the campus will also be able to support activities like medical research and artificial intelligence projects. He maintained that the processing resources used for bitcoin mining can be applied to medical research and AI.

The plan though is not without its detractors as Brian Landblom is a vocal critic of the proposed investment plan. Landblom who used to be a software engineer at Flagship Biosciences has expressed doubts over the viability of the project.

He lobbied for the proposal to be voted against, saying that the project was doomed to fail, leaving the county with a substantial infrastructure burden.

Feature image by Artur Stotch