Residents of a small town in Texas are urging for help to ‘save their lives’ after being hit by a wave of mystery illnesses linked to a new Bitcoin mine.
Nurse Deanna Leakey, 55, has suffered from blackouts and nausea since the mine opened in Granbury, just outside Dallas. Her husband Danny, has developed an irregular heartbeat which puts him at risk of strokes and a heart attack.
Across the street, a neighbor says she is plagued by constant headaches, while one of her dogs became so tormented that it started to rip out its own fur. In another case, a child was rushed to hospital four times in four months with an ear infection.
Many are blaming the now near 100 illnesses on the nearby Bitcoin mine and the constant noise given off by the army of fans used to cool its 30,000 computers.
Deanna Leakey, 55, a nurse who lives in Granbury, Texas, says she is appealing for help to reduce the noise in order to save her life. She is pictured above with her husband Danny
Above is the mine, which is run by Marathon Digital Holdings Ltd. Its fans make a constant whirring noise as they work to keep the computers cool
The facility is equipped with tens of thousands of high-powered computers that work by sifting through code to uncover Bitcoins, with each worth about $55,000.
The machines are housed in 163 large metal crates that look like shipping containers, and create a lot of heat as they work.
The only way to keep them from overheating is to install fans, but these can be extremely noisy — with sounds in the surrounding neighborhood measuring up to 90 decibels (dB) — equivalent to a chainsaw, blender or hair dryer running continuously.
Recently, locals said the noise — from the mine run by Marathon Digital Holdings Ltd — was around 70dB at night, about the same noise level as that emitted by a washing machine.
Ms Lakey tearfully told reporters at NBC News: ‘We are not complaining, we are not fighting it, we are asking for help to save our lives.
‘[When] I started becoming sick, I just felt like that I was going to die.’
The above shows the Bitcoin mine (left) and the Texan town of Granbury (right) about an hour by car from Fort Worth. Locals say they are being tortured by the noise
The above map shows the locations of 50 of America’s 137 cryptomines. Officials are now starting to study how much electricity they use
She added: ‘We live very close to the Bitcoin farm and we are definitely subject to the sounds that are going on 24 hours a day.’
For comparison, in New York City noise levels hover around 48dB at night — but can get up to 70dB in some areas with heavy traffic.
This is not constant, however, which may help residents to avoid any negative health effects.
Her husband Mr Lakey described the sound as so intense that it is like getting ‘hit in the chest by a baseball’.
Cheryl Shadden, who also lives near the mines, said: ‘It is like sleeping with a vacuum cleaner under your bed.
‘My ears buzz 24/7. I’ve got headaches. I’ve got dizziness. I had a dog that, the last year, she was ripping her fur out in clumps’.
Local doctors say they can think of little else that has caused the sudden surge in illnesses besides the recently installed Bitcoin mine in the town.
The mine began operating in the summer of 2022, and was purchased by Marathon in December 2023.
Dr Keith Darrow, an audiologist treating local patients, said: ‘This summer we’ve probably seen a significant increase of 100 to 150 percent more patients complaining about noise exposure.’
The CDC says that being exposed to sounds at this level for more than two hours per day can cause permanent damage to the eardrums.
It also says that to sleep, noises should be below 30dB — about the sound of a whisper.
A lack of sleep can lead to health problems including heart disease and infections as the immune system is weakened.
Cheryl Shadden, who lives near the mine, says one of her dogs became so tormented by the noise that it started to rip out its own fur
Marathon says they are making adjustments to the mine to reduce the noise it produces
After the Granbury mine opened in the summer of 2022, residents retreated from their porches into their homes to escape the noise.
But they quickly found it reached them inside, with many finding windows would rattle and beds would vibrate.
Wildlife including rabbits, coyotes and birds fled the area — while domestic chickens stopped laying eggs and dogs started to suffer spasms.
Alongside Granbury, towns in other areas of the US — including Bono in Arkansas and Williston in North Dakota — are also battling against constant noise from Bitcoin mines.
Their numbers in the US are surging, with 137 now in the country — after China asked the mines to leave, which experts say was in part because they were consuming a large amount of electricity.
The Granbury Bitcoin mine is run by Marathon Digital Holdings Ltd, which has faced repeated complaints from the local community about their operations.
The mine has recently invested more than $1million to reduce noise at the facility, which has included installing a new sound wall.
They also say there are plans to transition half of the computers there to immersion cooling, a less noisy method where machines are immersed in a dielectric liquid to lower their temperature.
Marathon said in a statement: ‘[Marathon] holds itself to the highest health and safety standards.
‘Since [Marathon] took operational control of the data center in April 2024, we have gone above and beyond what is required in a well-established industrial zone to ensure our facility is best in industry.’
They added: ‘There is no established link, medical or otherwise, between [Marathon]’s operations and the ailments that are being alleged.’
The Texas Coalition Against Cryptomining is leading the local charge against the operations.
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