How to choose a bitcoin mining hosting provider: vet the host first

Check the operator before the offer. A low rate per kWh is worth little if the host loses its power contract, its lease or its interest in mining halfway through your term. Four things come first:

• Power: who signs the power contract, with which supplier, and until when.
• Land: whether the host owns the site, leases it, or is still negotiating for it.
• Continuity: what happens to your machines if the host fails, sells the site or repurposes it.
• Control: whose pool account your hashrate lands in, and who holds the payout address.

Rates and terms come after that. Still deciding whether to host at all? Start with home mining vs hosted mining. If the arrangement is unfamiliar, how bitcoin mining hosting works follows one machine from the order to the first statement.

Ask for names and dates: who supplies the host's power, who signs for it, how long that agreement runs, and whether the host owns the site or leases it, and until when.

The dates matter because your hosting term sits on top of them. If the host's power agreement or lease ends before your term does, your term depends on a renewal you are not party to. Ask what happens to your rate and your machines if either one ends early, and whether your rate moves when the host's own power price does. The site screening checklist covers the same ground from the site side.

A host that will not say who holds its power contract is asking you to rely on a contract you cannot see.

Your machines should leave with you, at a cost you knew in advance. Get that in writing before they ship; it is much harder to negotiate after the site changes hands.

A host can fail. A host can also find a better tenant: a grid-connected site with power already in place can be re-leased or converted to another use, such as an AI data hall. Ask:

1. Does the agreement identify the machines as yours, by serial number?
2. Can the host move them to another site? With what notice, and who pays the freight?
3. If the host sells the site or stops mining there, how much notice do you get?
4. If you leave early, what happens to the deposit, and what do de-racking and shipping cost?

Keep your own copy of the receiving record: serial numbers, photos and rack positions. At Proton, every pallet is opened, counted, serial-scanned and photographed on arrival. When machines leave, they are de-racked, palletized and staged for your carrier at a cost quoted in writing.

You should. Your machines should point at your own pool account, under worker names you choose, paying out to an address only you control. A host needs read access to report on your machines, not the ability to move your bitcoin.

Ask who holds the pool credentials, and whether you can change the pool or payout address yourself without a fee or the host's approval. If payouts land in the host's pool account and are forwarded later, the host is in the custody path and its solvency becomes your problem.

At Proton, payouts go straight from your pool account to your wallet. You hold the keys and the pool credentials, Proton asks only for a read-only pool API key, and it never takes custody of mined bitcoin. The pool is one more counterparty: it holds your balance until payout, so a lower payout threshold leaves less of your bitcoin with it at any one time.

Ask what the meter measures and where it sits. The same headline rate can mean very different bills:

• Metered draw: you pay for the power the machine actually pulled.
• Nameplate: you pay for rated draw, which can include hours the machine is down or curtailed.
• Flat per machine: a fixed charge with a power assumption built in. Ask what the assumption is.

Then ask whether you are billed for power you did not draw during curtailment, whether curtailment events are logged, and whether the statement shows kWh, uptime and hashrate per machine so you can check them against each other. At Proton, power is metered at the PDU and billed on actual draw, not nameplate. To compare quotes on different billing bases, see what bitcoin mining hosting costs.

Every promise that matters should be a clause. Hold any bitcoin mining hosting agreement against these ten, each with the question it should answer and how Proton's hosting page structures it.

This is a checklist, not legal advice. Have a lawyer who works where the site is read the agreement before you sign.

1. Billing basis. Metered, nameplate or flat; where the meter sits; billing period and payment terms. Proton: per kWh, metered at the PDU on actual draw, with the period and payment terms in the agreement.
2. Minimum. The smallest fleet the host takes, and what happens below it. Proton: set per site, in machines or kW of connected load, and stated in your quote.
3. Term and exit. Initial term, renewal, exit notice, early-exit fees and removal cost. Proton: set out in the agreement, with removal at a cost quoted in writing.
4. Deposit and refund. How much, what it secures, and how it comes back if capacity is late. Proton: the amount is in your quote and the refund terms are in the agreement.
5. Setup. What the one-time fee buys. Proton: per machine, quoted in writing, covering receiving, inspection, asset tagging, racking and commissioning to first accepted share.
6. Curtailment hours. Expected hours a year, billing during them, reporting, and who keeps any payment the site earns for curtailing. Proton: hours stated in your quote, no bill for power you do not draw, events shown on your statement.
7. Insurance. Who insures the machines, against what, from transit to rack, and who files a claim. Ask whether the host's policy covers machines it does not own. Proton: set out in your hosting agreement.
8. Labour and parts. Which repairs are included, how labour and parts are charged, response targets and warranty returns. Proton: charges and response targets in the agreement; a unit needing a manufacturer RMA is pulled, documented and returned in coordination with you.
9. Damage window on arrival. How long the host has to inspect a delivery and report damage, and what evidence it keeps. Proton: pallets opened, counted, serial-scanned and photographed, with damage reported within the window in the agreement.
10. Pool and wallet control. Whose pool account, who holds the credentials and payout address, and what access the host gets. Proton: your pool and your wallet, with read-only access for Proton.

Read forum threads and review pages about hosts, including the bitcoin mining hosting threads on Reddit, and the same complaints repeat. Each one becomes a question:

• Machines paid for but not plugged in for months. Does the fee start on arrival or when the machine hashes, and what start date is committed?
• Machines moved to another site. Can the host relocate them, with what notice, and who pays?
• A deposit kept on exit. When, exactly, is the deposit refunded?
• Downtime credits applied unevenly. If the host commits to an uptime level, how is it measured, and is the credit automatic?
• Pool changes restricted or charged for. Can you change the pool and payout address yourself, free?
• A rate well below local power costs. What does it depend on, and when can it change?

None of these proves bad faith. Each is a place where the agreement was vague and the buyer found out later.

Some answers only exist per site, and Proton's sites are planned.

Alberta, 160 kW: acquisition in progress. Join the waitlist.

Every other location on the hosting page is proposed and marked Coming soon, with no confirmed hosting start date, and an enquiry does not reserve a slot. Capacity, timing, rate, terms and power supply are confirmed per site and set out in writing before anything ships.

So treat Proton like any other host: send these questions and expect the answers per site, in writing. Two limits apply first. Hosting is only for machines bought through Proton, and only for hydro-capable models; hydro miner hosting explains what those machines need from a site. To ask about a specific site, request a hosting quote.

Hosting at Proton is for machines bought through Proton. Capacity, timing, rate and terms are confirmed per site and set out in writing before anything ships.

A good fit if

• You are buying hydro-capable machines from the Proton catalogue and want them hosted.
• You want the power supply, the site and the terms answered per site, in writing.
• You want power metered at the PDU, your hashrate on your own pool and payouts in your own wallet.

Not a fit if

• You own machines bought from someone else: hosting is only for machines bought through Proton.
• Your machines are air-cooled: hosting is for hydro-capable models only.
• You need a hosting start date now: proposed locations have no confirmed start date.
• You want cloud mining, a hashrate plan or promised returns: none of these is offered.