Founder of MyEtherWallet reminds me of Bitcoin mining in Los Angeles five years ago in a desert heat
Kosala Hemachandra, founder and CEO of the MyEtherWallet cryptographic asset storage platform, extracted Bitcoin to pay his rent in Los Angeles from 2014-2015. When it came time to pay his bills, he converted his currencies into cash to facilitate the transaction.
In conversation with the Cointelegraph, Hemachandra recalled Bitcoin’s purchase of mining equipment in college while renting a room at his friend’s house.
„I bought a Bitcoin miner and had him in my room,“ he told the Cointelegraph in an interview. „I was mining and the amount I earned from Bitcoin mining was enough to pay the rent for that room, so it was basically free and I didn’t have to pay extra for electricity“.
During Bitcoin’s early years, mining proved to be a much more lucrative venture, requiring less advanced equipment than it is today.
But it wasn’t all fun and games. Hemachandra observed threateningly that the Immediate Bitcoin mining equipment emits a lot of heat, making life in that room in Los Angeles a pleasant experience. „It’s not as much fun as it sounds,“ he said, explaining that the San Fernando Valley, where he lived, often had outdoor temperatures of nearly 30 degrees Celsius.
„Since I’m managing a Bitcoin miner in my room, that goes beyond that, and the air conditioning I had was barely working,“ he recalled. „It was barely able to keep it at a level that could survive.“
Many of the early participants in Blockchain space echo similar feelings, usually involving stories of how they used their old digital assets in creative ways.