A continuous buzzing from a nearby bitcoin mining farm disrupted a family's life and triggered crises for a nonverbal five-year-old on the autism spectrum. Neighbors experienced sleeplessness, increased medication use, and severe stress, with one resident comparing the noise to a semi-trailer rumbling inside his home and expressing fear for his mental health. The farm sits 650 feet from one household and about a half mile from others on a five-hectare property in Santa Lucia de Villarrica. The facility houses thousands of processors that continuously solve mathematical puzzles to generate bitcoin and consumes electricity comparable to tens of thousands of families annually. Metal walls and security enclose the site, and a cooling system prevents machines from overheating.
The first time Irene Brizuela heard the buzzing that was to become unending, she thought it was a beehive. To her, it was a noise, but to her five-year-old nonverbal son on the autism spectrum, it was the beginning of a crisis. He began to cry and shake. We had to close the door to his room so that he wouldn't hear it, she says, remembering that late night in June 2024.
Jose Luis Figueredo began to take sleeping pills. For the accountant, who lives a half mile from the farm, it was like listening to a truck lugging a semi-trailer around his home's interior, 24 hours a day. There comes a moment in which your mental health is impacted. I thought, I'm going to throw a bomb and bring down the electrical grid.' It was really affecting me. I was afraid of having to depend on medication to be able to rest, he says.
The farm was built atop one of the hillsides of the small valley that forms the Canada San Juan in Santa Lucia. It has metal walls, black gates and a security guard who monitors access to the five-hectare property. Bitfarms' 2024 report states that 16,200 processors operate inside, generating bitcoin, the most popular cryptocurrency. The processors are like supercomputers that continuously solve mathematical puzzles to produce cryptocurrencies, and require a large amount of electricity.
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