Bitcoin miners descend on Georgia to mint new currency

Georgia was the site of America’s first gold rush in 1828 when miners flocked to the mountains near Dahlonega looking to strike it rich. Nearly 200 years later, a new wave of miners is descending on the state. Instead of gold, they’re mining a type of money that can’t be hidden under a mattress or folded into a wallet. They’re in the hunt for bitcoins, a cryptocurrency that has a global value of more than $1 trillion. Since 2020, bitcoin mining companies have opened or expanded eight facilities across the the state, lured by some of the same benefits that bring other industries to Georgia: ine...