Crypto Mining Saves Brazil in Wake of 2021 Recession

Brazil has been a country whose economic stability over the past few decades can only be described as a wild roller coaster ride. Unfortunately, as a direct result of the recent pandemic, the ride has become a helter-skelter downward spiral in recent months.

However, with the rising value of cryptocurrencies and the deflating value of the Brazilian real savvy locals have been turning to crypto-mining to stave off the worst of the predicted recession.

 Where There Was Sunshine

Despite what is often shown on television Brazil is not a wildland of cartels and misadventure. With the institution of intelligent financial and commercial policies, the government had turned the ailing country around.

In 2014 a review of Brazil’s gross domestic product per capita showed a heartening growth of nearly 400%, an all-time high for the country in more than a decade. One of the most exciting statistics at the time was that more than 35 million Brazilians had had their economic status upgraded from poor to middle class, an effective strike against the country’s history of widespread poverty.

In an unexpected turn of events, this enriching of the people of Brazil inadvertently enriched the health of the planet as the deforestation of the Amazon jungle came to a virtual standstill.

 A Land of Survivors

Come 2020 and all the success Brazil has had in turning around its economy is being chipped away by loss. The country has seen nearly half a million deaths, more than fourteen million Brazilians are unemployed, and the country’s gross domestic product shrunk by 4.1%.

Yet these hardy people have found a seedling of hope in crypto mining.

Professor of economics, José Guilherme Silva Vieira, said:

“Costs are defined by the equipment used and the expenses. Mining consumes a lot of electricity. In the past 12 months, however, the returns from the activity have been catapulted by the excessive valuation of cryptocurrencies.”

From the richest neighbourhoods to its slums crypto mining rigs are becoming more commonplace across Brazil. Setting up a workable mining rig will set the average Brazilian back approximately $9,000 (47,000 reals) however this rig can easily generate a monthly return of up to $900 (5,000 reals) and only costs an additional $100 per month in electricity and maintenance.

In very real terms the blockchain, the success of Bitcoin and the subsequent rise of crypto mining has become a lifesaver for the people of Brazil putting food on the table, creating a new industry that has kept locals from returning to harvesting the Amazon and created international trade opportunities as the country imports high-end GPUs to power these mining rigs.