Cryptocurrency miners are renting Boeing 747s to ship graphics cards
This just sounds grandiose but really, renting a 747-400F is not such a big deal. This <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.opshots.net&#x2F;2015&#x2F;04&#x2F;aircraft-operating-series-aircraft-operating-expenses&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.opshots.net&#x2F;2015&#x2F;04&#x2F;aircraft-operating-series-air...</a> article gives a figure of 24-27000 USD an hour. You need it how long? Ten hours? Twelve?<p>Using a random card Amazon gives us a box size of 13.4 x 9.5 x 3.1 about 400 cubic inches. Say <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.cargolux.com&#x2F;our-expertise&#x2F;cargo-equipment&#x2F;aircraft&#x2F;747-400f-specifications" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.cargolux.com&#x2F;our-expertise&#x2F;cargo-equipment&#x2F;aircra...</a> we have 21 347 ft^3 that is some 36 887 616 cubic inches which means some 92 000 such boxes give or take.<p>There are inefficiencies etc so let&#x27;s say it&#x27;s 30 000 cards. Say at 300 USD each. That&#x27;s a cool ten million bucks. The plane likely costs less than half a mil. It&#x27;s not a biggie.<p>But do they really?
 <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;motherboard.vice.com&#x2F;en_us&#x2F;article&#x2F;zmemza&#x2F;cryptocurrency-mining-fueling-a-gpu-shortage" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;motherboard.vice.com&#x2F;en_us&#x2F;article&#x2F;zmemza&#x2F;cryptocurr...</a> says &quot;Enigma started with an installation of about 700 GPUs and now consists of several larger buildings,&quot; Schindler told me in an email. &quot;Obviously at this size the operation draws attention from the hardware manufacturers directly and we have agreements with them.&quot; Compared to that I have some doubts they need to fly <i>thirty thousand</i> cards in. Maybe they rented a pallet in a 747F...