WEST VIRGINIA - It was an unusually dreary day for a summer afternoon in Point Pleasant as Sam Halving bagged groceries at the local Dollar General.
Sam has lived in West Virginia his whole life and for the past 3 decades has made an honest living as a Drill & Blast Mining Engineer at the local Bitcoin mine.
“There was something so meaningful about descending down into the earth each morning and digging up Bitcoins” Sam said, wiping away a tear.
But the local Bitcoin Mine’s life has slowly been coming to an end in the recent crypto winter. The mine, operated by a subsidiary of Core Scientific, is currently insolvent and facing bankruptcy. High energy costs and decreasing Bitcoin prices have devastated rural mining operations like the one in Point Pleasant.
In Point Pleasant, there is much worry over what comes next for a town that has only known Bitcoin mining for a generation.
“I just don’t know how the community survives this” Sam noted. For working class miners like Sam, news of the closure has put stress both on them and their families.
But for Sam, it’s about more than just a job.
“I remember sometimes surprising my son with a small piece of a Bitcoin that I might bring home for him to play with from the mine” Sam said with a smile “but all that is gone now” he continued.
Sam remains hopeful though, he’s heard a Dogecoin & Litecoin mine might be opening in nearby St. Mary’s or that the crypto markets might go to the moon soon. But until then he and other members of the Point Pleasant community must continue on into this uncertain future.
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