How The Tiny Nation Of Georgia Became A Bitcoin Behemoth

Since long before anyone can remember, the big, fertile slopes of the Alazani Valley in eastern Georgia have been planted with grapevines. It’s the heartland of winemaking in the country that invented it 8,000 years ago. But in recent months, the valley has been going through a new kind of ferment, because of bitcoin.

“You see that building there with the power line outside,” says Bezhani Buzhaidze, pointing to an abandoned-looking, cinder block storehouse in his hometown of Telavi, the hub of Georgian wine country. “That’s being turned into a data center for mining cryptocurrencies.”

It’s another sign of how this tiny former Soviet republic of fewer than 4 million people has become a virtual printing press for this new money you can’t see.