Shafer, who conducted field research at some of Abu Daher's mining sites, says that of Abu Daher's 40 employees, all receive a formal salary ranging from $800 to $4,000 per month in U.S. The mining boss does appear to be sharing those profits with his team.

(Though, as Shafer notes, the problem with solar is capacity - solar typically does not produce enough megawatts to mine at scale.)Ību Daher also started to host rigs for people living across Lebanon, who needed stable money but lacked technical expertise and access to cheap and steady electricity, as the nation often experiences blackouts. It looked like the crypto business was treating him well.'Ību Daher's farms span the country, with roughly half of his equipment in the hydro-rich Chouf range, and the remaining 50% scattered throughout Lebanon, including in the Beqaa Valley, which is close to the Syrian border, and offers solar power as an alternative electricity source. 'I had known him before Covid when he was a college student at the architecture department and I was his TA.

'When Ahmad pulled up in a white Range Rover to greet us and take us for a tour of the town, I was kind of impressed,' said Mohamad El Chamaa, a journalist at L'Orient Today who previously reported on Abu Daher's crypto mines. When CNBC asked for crypto exchange statements and copies of bank balances to corroborate the estimate, Abu Daher said that the figure was pieced together from trading, mining, and selling machines, in a mix of transactions involving cash, checks, and tether, as well as multiple crypto wallets.Ību Daher certainly has the trappings of a mining baron. Abu Daher says that he pulls in about $20,000 a month, and typically, half of those proceeds come from mining and the other half from selling machines and trading in crypto. He now has about 400 crypto farms with between 5 and 100 machines each, in 42 villages across the country running on a mix of hydropower, solar power, and fuel. It has been 26 months since Abu Daher first set up shop, and he says that business is thriving. Personal Loans for 670 Credit Score or Lower Personal Loans for 580 Credit Score or Lower

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