Mongolia, a landlocked country bordered by China and Russia has emerged as the new destination for cryptocurrency miners with its cheap electricity and cold weather. Even in the bear market, Bitcoin miners in Japan is eyeing the East Asia country for expansion.

Of late, the Tokyo based crypto-wallet Ginco has reportedly set two mining facilities in Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolian. One of which is located at an underground structure at a condominium complex.

The company launched its business in October, a time when its peers considering quitting or cutting down their mining operations. Despite the current bear market, Ginco Mongol plans to increase its Bitcoin mining rigs from 600 to 1600 by the end of 2019.

“The business environment is increasingly harsh, but we can still produce a profit,” said Ginco Mongol CEO Yuma Furubayashi in an interview with Nikkei Asian Review.

As Bitcoin, the leading cryptocurrency by market value has been trading at around $3500, representing over 80 percent drop from its all-time high of $20000 in late 2017. Mongolia is one of the few countries where Bitcoin miners can still make a profit.

Nevertheless, although some cryptocurrencies drop near to the “shutdown price”, there are some firm believers considered that Bitcoin will always hold value. In this situation, energy cost becomes a key factor of whether crypto mining is still profitable.

Electricity prices in Mongolia run around a third of Japanese rates and even cheaper than in China, as well as its cold weather that helps by cooling the mining devices make the country becomes so attractive to Japanese miners.

iTool, another Japanese entity, started its mining operations in Mongolia since last summer. iTool CEO Tamir Bayarsaikhan has also disclosed his plan in increasing its business capacity.

Both of the two Japanese companies confirmed that mining in Mongolia was profitable.

In addition, Mongolia has become a crypto-friendly country as the Central Bank of Mongolia has approved related legislation. Moreover, Mongolia’s largest telecom network Mobicom has decided to create its own cryptocurrency “candy” whose value is pegged to the country’s fiat currency tugrik.

In the future, can Mongolia attract more miners from all over the world and become the next mining hub? It will probably take some time to find out.