Bitfarms to invest $250 M in Sherbrooke

Bitfarms, a Quebec block chain and bitcoin giant is planning a $250 million investment to set up shop in Sherbrooke’s regional industrial park and create 250 jobs.

Block chain technology is on the verge of occupying as big a space in our lives as the Internet currently does, says Bitfarms president Pierre-luc Quimper. "For the moment, we are building computing power centers and we are working in cryptocurrency. Sherbrooke will be our biggest data center and we will settle in as soon as we finish our work in Magog."

The Sherbrooke facility is scheduled to open in June.

Block chain technology is used, for example, to carry out secure transactions online and eventually could allow the exchange of legal documents between individuals by authenticating all the legal steps of the process without going through a notary. It can also be used to transfer digital assets without the original owner keeping a copy, thereby erasing the data transferred to a third party from the sender’s computer.

Another possible application comes from its traceability. Block chain makes it possible to follow a food product, for example, from production through consumption and guarantee its origin.

The Sherbrooke facility will allow Bitfarms to quadruple its computer calculation power and increase the number of its employees in Quebec from 80 to 330 by the end of the year. Jobs will be created for engineers, technicians, electricians, system administrators, security managers, and security personnel.

Mayor Steve Lussier said the arrival of Bitfarms represents tens of millions of

dollars each year in electricity sales for the City.

Sherbrooke was chosen for this new investment largely because of the knowledge pool generated by the presence of the Université de Sherbrooke. The collaboration of Hydro-sherbrooke also played a part. In periods of peak electricity consumption, Bitfarms may reduce

its activities to relieve the Sherbrooke network. A 98 megawatt electrical supply agreement has been signed with Hydro-sherbrooke.

Bitfarms already has facilities in Saint-hyacinthe, Farnham, Notre-damede-stanbridge, Cowansville, and Magog.