Hello, I’m Alex

Hello to everyone from your friendly neighborhood crypto mining family! I’m Alex. I took the red pill about this time last year. The journey has been incredible. I’ve gone through the growing pains of being a newbie to the wide-eyed discovery of a whole new universe and finally to the analytical stage of evaluating what is real in the depths of a vast sea of mirages.

Last year during the COVID-19 crisis I quit my job of 12 years as a US Merchant Marine. I wanted a change...and man did I get it. My life in and out of airports and seaports turned into a stationary lifestyle of education. No more leaving my growing family of six for months on end. I gave up a good paying job to pursue what I believe to be the best type of freedom...financial freedom. After a fair amount of research, I cashed out all my retirement accounts and went all in on crypto mining. It was amazing how easily 12 years of savings disappeared but somehow, I felt at peace about it.

Initially I didn’t know where to find mining equipment. I took a few gambles on some sketchy websites and got scammed a few times. Just when I was about to give up hope at finding equipment through a reputable source, I found Stephen at PRINT CRYPTO. He messaged me while I purchased a few A10’s off his eBay account. He had great seller statistics. Our professional relationship has continued to grow stronger with each successful ASIC purchase.

I have acquired several batches of ASICs, and he has always delivered. He has been developing a trusty network of contacts on the ground in China where all the best ASICs are manufactured. I’m glad that he is opening to a wider audience through this website, so all newcomers don’t have to go through the pain that I did.

One of the hardest lessons I had to learn was proper “order of operation”. If you are determined to get into the crypto mining game, you must first have a place to put your machines. Everyone considering this path needs to decide where they will operate. For me I started in my home and garage. Some of you may have a second home or rental property or warehouse or maybe just a piece of property out in the middle of no man’s land. After you have a location then you will have to solve the next two challenges.

Challenge one is power. You need a location that can handle the power demand. This means you need both accessible power and the right type of power. Most of the more powerful ASICs require a 220v power source which means if you live in the USA you probably will have to pay for some electrical upgrades to make sure you have the right power source and connection type. Always consult with a licensed electrician to make sure you know exactly what you are capable of doing at your location. DO NOT BURN YOUR HOUSE DOWN!

Cooling is the other major challenge to consider. There are four main types of cooling methods; open air (air exchange), climate controlled, immersion, and geothermal cooling. You will need to see which method makes the most sense at your location and plan accordingly. There are trade offs with each of them and you should make sure you do your own research to ensure that your electrical heat load will be mitigated correctly.

You should only move forward with purchasing ASICs after identifying your solutions to the stated challenges above. Believe me, it doesn’t feel good to see an expensive piece of equipment on the floor in the box... not working.

Over the coming weeks I will try and share some more of my personal crypto mining journey. Good Luck out there!

Your friendly neighborhood mining family!

Alex Hays and Company

Owner/Mgr

Orion & Tarus, LLC