Mining News in January: Mining Costs Nearly $40,000 After Halving, Canaan Finances Over $50 Million. Sponsored By Bitdeer
Title sponsored by Bitdeer, a NASDAQ-listed mining company
1.
The current global ranking of Bitcoin mining hashrate is topped by the United States with 38%, followed by China (21%), Kazakhstan (13%), Canada (7%), Russia (5%), Germany (3%), Malaysia (3%) and Ireland (2%). The European Union countries collectively account for only 6% of the global Bitcoin mining hashrate.
Bitdeer empowers individuals and institutions to participate in Bitcoin mining through diverse services like cloud mining, mobile, and customized datacenters.
2.
Bitcoin mining revenues reached $1.51 billion in December 2023, an increase of approximately 30% sequentially and the highest single-month record of the year. Additionally, transaction fees in December were $324 million, simultaneously the highest single-month record of the year.
3.
Bitdeer announced its unaudited mining and operations updates for December 2023. Bitdeer mined 434 Bitcoins in total in December, a 7.7% increase from the month prior and a 149.4% increase from December 2022. Approximately 6,000 legacy mining machines were phased out. .Construction of a 175MW immersion cooling data center at the Tydal mining facility in Norway has continued and remains on track to finish by mid-2025. Additionally, they plan to commence construction of a 221MW data center in Ohio, United States, as part of their ongoing strategy to expand electrical capacity. This construction is also expected to be completed in 2025. On the AI cloud service front, Bitdeer received delivery of initial NVIDIA DGX H100 systems during December, and have begun to install and test them. Based on progress so far, Bitdeer expect their cloud service platform to launch during the first quarter of 2024.
4.
Canadian crypto miner Hut 8 announced that it mined 453 bitcoins in December and now has 9,195 BTC with 205,759 miners and a total hashrate of 21.5 EH/s. Additionally, Hut 8 purchased a 63 MW substation and 1.9 acres of land for approximately $7.1 million; and a U.S. court approved the continuation of Hut 8’s plan for a comprehensive mining operation in connection with the Celsius bankruptcy proceedings. The U.S. Court approved Hut 8’s continuation of a comprehensive mining plan of operations in connection with the Celsius bankruptcy proceeding and the transfer of mining operations to the newly formed MiningCo.
5.
Core Scientific produced 1,177 bitcoin in December from its owned fleet of miners. Produced a total of 13,762 self-mined bitcoins and an estimated 5,512 bitcoins from colocated miners in 2023. As of month-end, the Company operated approximately 209,000 bitcoin miners for both self-mining and colocation, representing a total energized hash rate of 23.2 EH/s at its data centers in Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, North Dakota and Texas.
6.
Marathon, one of the largest publicly traded mining companies, announced that it mined 1,853 Bitcoins in December and 12,852 bitcoins for the full year of 2023, a company record, with the increase in production stemming from higher transaction fees on the Bitcoin network; the average running hashrate improved 18% YoY to 22.4 EH/s. As of December 31st, the Marathon held a total of 15,174 unrestricted Bitcoins.
7.
Bitcoin mining company Bitfarms released its December 2023 financial results, producing 446 BTC and selling 444 BTC for total proceeds of $18.9 million; hashrate increased by 2% to 6.5 EH/s for the month; it produced a total of 4,928 BTC in 2023. Additionally, it held approximately $84 million in cash and cash equivalents as of the end of FY23.
8.
Canaan announced that it has secured follow-on purchase orders from joint venture entities of Cipher Mining and from Stronghold Digital Mining. The orders, which combined involve the purchase of over 17,000 Bitcoin mining machines, build upon Canaan’s existing relationships with Cipher and Stronghold. Cipher has purchased from Canaan 16,700 A1466 model mining machines. Stronghold has purchased from Canaan 1,100 A1346 model mining machines. The machines will be delivered in April, May and January 2024, respectively.
9.
CleanSpark Inc., one of the largest US public Bitcoin mining companies, intends to launch an in-house trading desk this year to maximize returns from its holdings of the cryptocurrency. The company plans to develop strategies based on regulated crypto products, such as options contracts traded on the CME or its affiliates, with the aim of reducing costs and risks through its internal divisions. As of November 2023, CleanSpark held 2,575 Bitcoins and realized revenues of $168 million in the fiscal year ending September 2023.
10.
Argo Blockchain announced it has raised, subject to Admission, gross proceeds of £7.8 million ($9.9 million) by the issue of 38,064,000 new ordinary shares of £0.001 each in the Company at a price per share of £0.205 to certain institutional investors.The net proceeds of the Placing are expected to be used by the Company for working capital, the repayment of indebtedness, and for general corporate purposes. Admission is expected to occur, and dealings in the new Ordinary Shares commence, on 11 January 2024.
11.
Core Scientific announced the final results of its $55 million Equity Rights Offering (“ERO”). The ERO was oversubscribed, and the aggregate subscriptions (including oversubscriptions) exceeded $55 million at which the ERO is capped. Because the ERO is capped at $55 million, the total amount of oversubscription, if any, will be allocated pro rata among ERO participants who exercised their oversubscription rights based on the number of shares of reorganized Core Scientific each oversubscription participant subscribed for. As a result of this successful fundraising, Core Scientific was able to emerge from bankruptcy in January.
12.
CleanSpark, a US-based bitcoin mining company, has announced the purchase of up to 160,000 Bitmain S21 miners, equivalent to 32 EH/s. The first 60,000 units can be purchased for $16.1/T, totaling $193.2 million after discounts and coupons; an additional 100,000 miners can be purchased for $16/T as well.
13.
Phoenix Group, a UAE-based bitcoin mining and hardware distribution company, has announced the purchase of mining machines from Bitmain for $187 million.Phoenix has recently purchased $136 million worth of mining machines from Bitmain’s competitor Whatsminer.
14.
Hut 8 announced that it has entered into an amendment and restatement of its credit facility with a subsidiary of Coinbase Global, as lender, in connection with the extension of an additional loan in the amount of US$15M to the Borrower, increasing the aggregate principal amount of the loans under the Credit Facility to US$65 million. The New Loan is expected to be used for general corporate purposes and funded at or shortly following closing.
15.
CoinShares Mining Report: The Bitcoin mining network has experienced meteoric growth, with an increase in hashrate of 104% in 2023. Estimated average production cost per bitcoin after 2024 halving is $37,856. Unless the Bitcoin price stays above $40,000, only Bitfarms, Iris, CleanSpark, TeraWulf, and Cormint will be able to continue to turn a profit, with the impact on the mining companies coming from inflated selling, general, and administrative (SG&A) costs.
16.
Crypto miner Core Scientific has said that the US bankruptcy court has approved its plan of reorganization under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code and it plans to relist on the Nasdaq at the end of January. Under the plan of reorganization, the company’s shareholders will receive a new equity stake of about 60 percent in Core Scientific, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December 2022 and this month announced the completion of an oversubscribed $55 million equity offering.
17.
Bitcoin’s network hashrate declined by approximately 25% since Jan. 12th. The global hashrate estimates fell from around 600 EH/s to 450 EH/s, coinciding with a weather warning for Jan. 14 to 17 issued by ERCOT due to extreme cold weather across the region.
18.
Deus X Capital, a $1 billion specialized investment firm, has partnered with Fabiano Consulting to explore investment and strategic opportunities in the bitcoin mining industry. The two firms are looking to become investors and capital management providers for mining companies seeking capital and strategic advice, including expansion and corporate structuring.Fabiano Consulting was founded by Amanda Fabiano, former head of mining at Galaxy Digital and former head of mining at Fidelity Investments.（CoinDesk）
19.
Hut 8 is aware of a short report issued on January 18 by J Capital Research, which is a self-proclaimed group of biased activists who clearly disclose that they will profit if a company’s share price declines. Hut 8 is reviewing the report and will provide updates as the Company deems appropriate. Hut 8 Corp. shares fell 23 percent on an unconfirmed report from short-selling firm J Capital Research.
20.
Bitcoin miner Core Scientific has completed the reorganization process and relisted its shares on the Nasdaq. The restructuring plan announced Tuesday has slashed $400 million in debt from Core’s balance sheet. Core is in the process of deploying tens of thousands of more mining rigs with the goal of increasing its capacity by more than 50% over the next four years.（CNBC）
21.
Yassine Elmandjra, Director of Digital Assets at Ark Invest, said that annual revenues from Bitcoin mining have averaged $12.3 billion, which already exceeds the revenues of many large public companies such as Spotify ($11.8 billion), eBay ($10.1 billion) and Hemes ($10.1 billion). In addition, Bitcoin miners have accumulated nearly $60 billion in revenue.
22.
Canadian miner Bitfarms said it has purchased land in Iguazu, Paraguay, with plans to expand capacity by 100 MW in Latin America. Bitfarms said the land purchased is located near the Itaipu Dam, which has the potential to utilize renewable energy in one of the world’s largest hydroelectric power plants. The company did not disclose the value of the deal, but said it expects to complete the expansion in the second half of 2024.（The Miner Mag）
23.
BitTorrent Group (NASDAQ: BTDR) has been named one of Singapore’s fastest growing companies for 2024. The annual ranking, published by The Straits Times and Statista, recognizes a wide range of companies known for their rapid growth and contribution to the local economy. Bit Fawn is the first blockchain company to be honored, ranking №6 out of 18 companies in the IT & Software category and №34 in the top 100 list.Statista identified more than 2,000 companies to participate in the nomination process, which examines compounded revenue growth from 2019 to 2022 to determine eligibility. According to its ranking, Bit Fawn achieved an absolute growth rate of 275.51% from 2019 to 2022.
24.
Swan Bitcoin has announced that Swan Mining has become a division of the Swan organization. Swan Mining began operations in the summer of 2023 and is already delivering 4.5 exahash to the bitcoin network. the division has purchased and delivered mining equipment to bring its total capacity to more than 8 exahash, and expects to be fully deployed in march. Swan has mined over 750 bitcoins.
25.
Bitcoin miner Canaan has announced that it has closed its second tranche of preferred stock financing on Jan. 22, raising more than $50 million. This follows the first tranche of its preferred stock financing, which raised $25 million. The net proceeds will be used for research and development, production expansion, and general corporate expenses.
26.
Hut 8 announced Chief Commercial Officer Matt Prusak will be leaving his post Jan. 31 to take over the mining company being spun out of the Celsius bankruptcy. Hut 8 said the company would provide “end-to-end managed services” for five Celsius-owned mining sites in Texas, with Prusak serving as CEO. The four-year agreement pledges Hut 8 a $20 million annual management fee “in addition to restricted stock and incentive equity in the new company.”
27.
Bitdeer announced the appointment of Mr. Jihan Wu, the Company’s Founder and Chairman of its Board of Directors, as Chief Executive Officer of the Company, effective on March 1, 2024. The Company’s current Chief Executive Officer Mr. Linghui Kong will transition to the role of Chief Business Officer.
28.
Bitcoin mining firm GRIID began trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange on January 29th under the ticker symbol “GRDI.” The listing follows GRIID’s merger with special purpose acquisition company Adit EdTech Acquisition Corp. on Jan. 2, over two years since the initial proposal. Headquartered in Cincinnati, GRIID has operated bitcoin mining facilities since 2019, focused on securing affordable, reliable and environmentally responsible power. The company currently operates four U.S. mining facilities in Watertown, New York and Limestone, Maynardville and Lenoir City, Tennessee.（The Block）
29.
Celsius announced that the company has closed the transaction in accordance with a confirmed plan of reorganization. The plan includes the distribution of over $3 billion in cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies to Celsius’ creditors, as well as the creation of a new bitcoin mining company, Ionic Digital, Inc. which will be owned by Celsius’ creditors and will be managed by the mining company, Hut 8, for mining operations.
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