Casey Wagner

After a rocky 2022, bitcoin miners could be in for a lucrative year, at least if past market cycle patterns repeat.&nbsp;



The largest cryptocurrency posted a 64% loss last year, coupled with skyrocketing electricity costs around the world and a dramatic drop in mining profitability made 2022 a bust for most of the crypto mining industry. But a rebounding market and upcoming halving cycle could be the catalysts the industry needs for a turnaround.&nbsp;



The next bitcoin halving, expected in the second quarter of 2024, should create a positive imbalance between bitcoin’s supply and demand, <a href="https://medium.com/@cbendiksen?source=---two_column_layout_sidebar----------------------------------" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Christopher Bendiksen</a>, bitcoin research lead at CoinShares, said in a <a href="https://blog.coinshares.com/end-in-sight-for-the-mining-capitulation-cycle-e33b9d2fc9b9" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">report</a> Monday. 



“Historically, there has been a recurring tendency for the halvings to be closely followed by bull markets, leading to the now famed four-year bull/bear cycles in bitcoin price,” Bendiksen said.&nbsp;



When market conditions are strong, miners restrict new supply by holding more bitcoin on their own treasuries, meaning the supply of newly mined bitcoin hitting the market is much smaller than the actual production amount, Bendiksen said. But when there are challenges in the market, miners are forced to liquidate their holdings.&nbsp;



“Because good times in mining tend to happen during bitcoin bull markets, and bad times tend to happen during bear markets, miner hoarding behavior happens right when demand is already overpowering supply, and vice versa,” Bendiksen said. “This adds further fuel to the volatility fire, both to the upside and the downside.”



Some bitcoin mining companies have already reported a stronger start to the year. Riot Platforms increased its production 62% year-over-year last month, the company said in an <a href="https://www.riotplatforms.com/investors/news-events/press-releases/detail/146/riot-announces-january-2023-production-and-operations" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">unaudited report</a> Monday. Riot reported selling 700 of its 740 mined bitcoin in January 2023, resulting in net proceeds of around $13.7 million, the company said. 



<a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/stronghold-digital-mining">Stronghold Digital Mining</a>, which has been publicly traded since October 2021, has paused all debt payments until July 2024, giving the firm runway for the next 18 months, the company said Tuesday. Holding off on debt payments means Stronghold can take advantage of the current distressed mining market, a spokesperson said. 



After <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/stronghold-loses-25-after-hours-as-q4-earnings-revenue-miss-mark">losing nearly 98% since its Nasdaq debut</a>, Stronghold has rallied more than 30% so far this year. Analysts surveyed by <a href="https://money.cnn.com/quote/forecast/forecast.html?symb=SDIG" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CNN Business</a> give Stronghold a buy rating with a median price target of $2 per share, a roughly 257% increase from its current price of around $0.56. 



In yet another consolidation move spurred by the distressed market, mining companies <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/hut-8-halts-bitcoin-mining-facility-amid-energy-dispute">Hut 8</a> and US Bitcoin Corp announced merger plans Tuesday. The two companies will be wholly-owned subsidiaries of the new Hut 8 Corp. Hut 8’s shares will be consolidated five-to-one, per the <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/hut-8-and-us-bitcoin-announce-merger-of-equals-to-create-a-preeminent-digital-asset-mining-hosting-managed-infrastructure-operations-and-high-performance-computing-organization-301740489.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">press release</a>. 



“Once miners are better able to cover ongoing cash needs through mining revenue, the exacerbating effect from treasury liquidations on downside volatility is reduced, removing an ankle weight from the bitcoin price itself,” Bendiksen said. “This in turn has the potential to act as a virtuous cycle.



<hr class="wp-block-separator">
Get the day’s top crypto news and insights delivered to your email every evening.&nbsp;<a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/newsletter/?source=end" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Subscribe to Blockworks’ free newsletter</a>&nbsp;now.
 
Want alpha sent directly to your inbox? Get degen trade ideas, governance updates, token performance, can’t-miss tweets and more from&nbsp;<a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/research" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Blockworks Research&#8217;s Daily Debrief</a>.
 
Can&#8217;t wait? Get our news the fastest way possible.&nbsp;<a href="https://t.me/blockworks_news" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Join us on Telegram</a> and follow us on <a href="https://news.google.com/publications/CAAqBwgKMPyTxgswn6_dAw" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Google News</a>.
<hr class="wp-block-separator">

Cutting Costs and Joining Forces, Bitcoin Miners Hoping for Rebound

David Canellis

Some bitcoin miners are still hoarding loads of bitcoin — more to dump or more to hold?



Bitcoin (BTC) has booked a decent rally to start the year, jumping as much as 29% and giving a much-needed morale boost to cryptocurrencies as a whole. 



There’s likely few digital assets operators as relieved as bitcoin miners — especially those with <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/crashing-prices-expose-bitcoin-mining-industrys-addiction-to-leverage">leftover debt obligations</a> from 2021’s bull market.



Blockworks analyzed bitcoin production reports from nine public mining companies to gauge how they fared last year.



The firms — including Marathon Digital Holdings, Riot Blockchain, Argo Crypto and Hut 8 Mining — altogether represent roughly 20% of Bitcoin hashrate.



First up is a chart of their BTC treasuries. Fears of widespread miner capitulation have persisted ever since cascading liquidations wrecked hedge funds and crypto lenders in mid-2022.&nbsp;



But collectively, our nine Bitcoin miners have maintained similarly-sized treasuries as in December 2021 — when BTC was just coming down from its $69,000 record highs. They held 31,392 BTC ($605 million) as of last year’s end, down less than 4% from a year earlier.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-flourish wp-block-embed-flourish"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<iframe class="wp-embedded-content" sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" title="Interactive or visual content" src="https://flo.uri.sh/visualisation/12369945/embed#?secret=qGB0gnIFjQ" data-secret="qGB0gnIFjQ" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" height="575" width="700"></iframe>
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Chart by David Canellis</figcaption></figure>



That’s despite Austin-headquartered Core Scientific — historically the largest public miner by hashrate (and by a wide margin) — declaring bankruptcy after dumping most of its BTC in June.&nbsp;



The firm held as much as 9,618 BTC ($385 million then, $185 million now) a few months earlier.



<h3>How much BTC did each miner mine last year?&nbsp;</h3>



Core Scientific, which has continued mining operations throughout its restructuring, produced the lion’s share of BTC, as expected, or 15,464 BTC ($299 million).



That represents an estimated 5% of all bitcoin issued throughout the year. Marathon, Bitfarms and Riot all brought in similar hauls, just shy of 6,000 BTC ($116 million) each.



Of the nine, Argo mined the least with 2,371 BTC ($45.8 million). The London-headquartered firm in December warned investors that it’s teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-flourish wp-block-embed-flourish"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<iframe class="wp-embedded-content" sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" title="Interactive or visual content" src="https://flo.uri.sh/visualisation/12432771/embed#?secret=ChOHYmFVxf" data-secret="ChOHYmFVxf" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" height="575" width="700"></iframe>
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Chart by David Canellis</figcaption></figure>



On the selling front, the largest bitcoin dumps were disclosed in June of last year.&nbsp;



The analyzed companies together sold around 12,000 BTC ($361 million then, $232 million now) throughout the month — led by Core Scientific and Bitfarms, which sold around 7,200 BTC and 3,350 BTC, respectively.&nbsp;



Do Kwon’s failed algorithmic stablecoin had depegged in May, triggering rolling liquidations across the ecosystem for the next few months — not just bitcoin miners.



From there, our miners would go on to offload an of 4,900 BTC ($94.5 million) a month for the rest of the year. German outfit Northern Data notably revised its holding strategy to greenlight BTC sales in June, now selling all of its generated crypto every month.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-flourish wp-block-embed-flourish"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<iframe class="wp-embedded-content" sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" title="Interactive or visual content" src="https://flo.uri.sh/visualisation/12433198/embed#?secret=0xHlKuANyn" data-secret="0xHlKuANyn" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" height="575" width="700"></iframe>
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Chart by David Canellis</figcaption></figure>



Jaran Mellerud, analyst at bitcoin mining services firm Luxor, told Blockworks that Northern Data is “basically all-in on crypto mining,” despite projecting a focus on the more general high-performance computing.&nbsp;



“The company operated several mining facilities in Europe that are now unusable due to the high electricity prices,” Mellerud said. Northern Data recently said it was in the process of relocating its ASIC miners to “energy price optimized locations.”



<h3>Bitcoin mining stocks track each other</h3>



While production, revenue and profitability drastically differ from miner to miner, their share prices are heavily correlated.



All the companies’ share prices underperformed against bitcoin, which fell about 60% throughout the year. Riot, the best performing stock analyzed, shed 71%.



Core Scientific was the worst performing bitcoin mining stock we checked — losing 99% of its value. No shock there.&nbsp;



For scale, the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 stock index tanked 30% throughout the year, as depicted by Invesco’s popular ETF QQQ in the chart below.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-flourish wp-block-embed-flourish"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<iframe class="wp-embedded-content" sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" title="Interactive or visual content" src="https://flo.uri.sh/visualisation/12435334/embed#?secret=f8EBOSsYD0" data-secret="f8EBOSsYD0" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" height="575" width="700"></iframe>
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Chart by David Canellis </figcaption></figure>



With share prices down or decimated across the board in 2022, one might wonder how to properly value each company now.&nbsp;



The nine firms were altogether worth $11 billion at the start of 2022. Now, they garner a combined market capitalization of $3.64 billion — almost $7.5 billion up in smoke.&nbsp;



Riot sits as the most valuable public bitcoin miner worth $1.29 billion, as of Jan. 13, followed by Marathon with about $895 million, per TradingView.



Northern Data clocks in at third at $320 million, down 80% from its near-$1.6 billion valuation at the start of 2022.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-flourish wp-block-embed-flourish"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<iframe class="wp-embedded-content" sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" title="Interactive or visual content" src="https://flo.uri.sh/visualisation/12436286/embed#?secret=f47l9VM5eu" data-secret="f47l9VM5eu" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" height="575" width="700"></iframe>
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Chart by David Canellis</figcaption></figure>



<hr class="wp-block-separator">
Get the day’s top crypto news and insights delivered to your email every evening.&nbsp;<a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/newsletter/?source=end" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Subscribe to Blockworks’ free newsletter</a>&nbsp;now.
 
Want alpha sent directly to your inbox? Get degen trade ideas, governance updates, token performance, can’t-miss tweets and more from&nbsp;<a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/research" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Blockworks Research&#8217;s Daily Debrief</a>.
 
Can&#8217;t wait? Get our news the fastest way possible.&nbsp;<a href="https://t.me/blockworks_news" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Join us on Telegram</a> and follow us on <a href="https://news.google.com/publications/CAAqBwgKMPyTxgswn6_dAw" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Google News</a>.
<hr class="wp-block-separator">

5 Charts Showing How Brutal 2022 Was for Public Bitcoin Miners

Sebastian Sinclair

Bitcoin miner Hut 8 is seeking mediation with a third-party energy supplier after relations broke down over a shared power purchase agreement — bringing some of its operations to a halt.



The Canadian firm was forced to stop mining bitcoin out of its North Bay, Ontario facility after provider Validus suspended delivery of energy to the site. The mining firm operates two other mining sites in Southern Alberta.



The provider claims Hut 8 has failed to make regular payments. Hut 8 is categorically denying those allegations, according to a <a href="https://hut8mining.com/2022/11/28/hut-8-provides-update-on-north-bay-facility/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">statement</a> on Monday. A spokesperson for Validus did not immediately return a request for comment.



<a href="https://hut8mining.com/2022/11/28/hut-8-provides-update-on-north-bay-facility/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Earlier this month</a>, Hut 8 said it had handed Validus a notice claiming the energy provider neared default on obligations of the two firms’ power purchase agreement, and blamed Validus for failing to hit certain operational milestones by key dates laid out in the terms.



Hut 8 also noted ongoing discussions with Validus, meant to mitigate related operational and commercial impacts, which have so far been unsuccessful. The Ontario site had about 5,800 miners installed as of June, consuming 20 MW of power and <a href="https://hut8mining.com/2022/08/11/hut-8-reports-operating-and-financial-results-for-q2-2022/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">contributing</a> about 20% of Hut 8&#8217;s overall hashrate.



A spokesperson for Hut 8 confirmed the company was seeking mediation via a third-party and was hopeful it would reach a resolution with Validus outside of court. They declined to comment further on the operational milestones it claimed Validus had missed.



<h3>Bitcoin miner Hut 8 could do without the interruption</h3>



Most miners are struggling to navigate <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/bitcoin-price-drop-tests-miners-diamond-hands" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">significant headwinds</a> following a major drop in bitcoin’s price, which has shed 66% of its value year-to-date.



Indeed, high electricity costs, low bitcoin prices and soaring mining difficulty have taken a bite out of profits. As a result, Hut 8 saw a 36% decline in third-quarter revenue when compared to the same period a year ago, dropping from $50.3 million to $31.7 million, recent <a href="https://hut8mining.com/investors/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">financial statements</a> show.&nbsp;



Mining profits over the same period stood at $9.3 million compared to $33.5 million in Q3 2021, a 72% decline. Bitcoin hovered around $60,000 this time last year, while it now trades for $16,500.



Hut 8 has publicly pledged to hold onto all its bitcoin despite the tough market conditions. It <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/hut-8-mining-production-and-operations-update-for-august-2022-301617489.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">maintained</a> 8,111 BTC ($133.6 million) as of Aug. 30, mining around 12.1 BTC ($200,000) per day.



The firm&#8217;s stock, which commands a market value around $220 million, has also suffered, dropping more than 85% year to date alongside most of its rivals — which makes getting its miners back online as soon as possible even more critical.



<hr class="wp-block-separator">
Get the day’s top crypto news and insights delivered to your email every evening.&nbsp;<a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/newsletter/?source=end" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Subscribe to Blockworks’ free newsletter</a>&nbsp;now.
 
Want alpha sent directly to your inbox? Get degen trade ideas, governance updates, token performance, can’t-miss tweets and more from&nbsp;<a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/research" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Blockworks Research&#8217;s Daily Debrief</a>.
 
Can&#8217;t wait? Get our news the fastest way possible.&nbsp;<a href="https://t.me/blockworks_news" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Join us on Telegram</a> and follow us on <a href="https://news.google.com/publications/CAAqBwgKMPyTxgswn6_dAw" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Google News</a>.
<hr class="wp-block-separator">

Hut 8 Halts Bitcoin Mining Facility Amid Energy Dispute

Ben Strack

Jon Rice

Circle, Gemini and Luno are among major crypto companies with exposure to digital currency prime broker Genesis, which <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/news/genesis-halts-lending/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">has halted customer redemptions and new loan originations</a> within its lending division as the <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/news/ftx-bankrupt-hacked-investigated-a-timeline-of-events/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">fallout of FTX’s collapse</a> continues.



Genesis partnered with Luno in August 2020, saying at the time it would enable interest-bearing products customized for the Luno community.&nbsp;



Luno had previously taken steps to ensure that customers can retain access to Savings Wallet funds in the event withdrawals from Genesis are not possible, a spokesperson said. 



&#8220;Because of that, all Savings Wallet funds are now on the Luno platform,&#8221; the representative said. &#8220;All customers will retain full access to their cryptocurrency held in all Luno wallets, including the Savings Wallet.&#8221;



<a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/tag/hut-8/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Hut 8 Mining</a> said in January 2021 that it opened a Bitcoin Yield Account in partnership with Genesis’s lending business, called Genesis Global Capital. But the crypto miner concluded its yield program earlier this year, a spokesperson said. 



“We have no direct exposure to Genesis,&#8221; the representative told Blockworks. &#8220;We previously had 1,000 bitcoin in a yield program with the company, but recalled it in May and added it to the rest of our stack, which sits in cold storage.”



Bitcoin IRA — a company allowing clients to purchase crypto for their retirement accounts — unveiled an interest-earning program offered through Genesis in February 2021. The company said the program would provide interest rates as high as 6% annually on cash and crypto holdings using the company&#8217;s self-directed retirement platform.



Bitcoin IRA co-founder Chris Kline told Blockworks in an email that during this year&#8217;s second quarter, &#8220;as a precautionary measure and based on our own market assessment and risk management,&#8221; his company ended support for the program. 



&#8220;We have no exposure to Genesis Lending and do not offer, or participate in, any crypto lending programs on our platform,” Kline added.



<a href="https://twitter.com/DCGco/status/1592868145286766592?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1592868145286766592%7Ctwgr%5Ef92ef7fa14afc883d813e5db4e17ec64814fba5c%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.blockworks.co%2Fnews%2Fgenesis-halts-lending%2F" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Genesis tweeted</a> its decision to temporarily suspend withdrawals and new loan originations Wednesday.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“This decision was made in response to the extreme market dislocation and loss of industry confidence caused by the FTX implosion,” the company said.



<a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/tag/genesis/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Genesis</a> executives explained the situation to institutional clients on a call Wednesday morning, according to a source familiar with the matter. Another source last week told Blockworks that Genesis was “functionally insolvent.” Sources were granted anonymity to discuss sensitive business dealings.



<h3>Circle Yield powered by Genesis’ credit operations</h3>



Circle and Genesis parent Digital Currency Group signed a $25 million deal in 2020, aimed at accelerating global adoption of USDC in mainstream finance.



As part of the strategic partnership, Genesis would help Circle add new USDC yield and lending services. The idea was to allow companies to generate “strong positive yield” on their own USDC holdings, as well as those of their customers.&nbsp;



<a href="https://www.circle.com/blog/circle-and-genesis-team-up-to-develop-yield-and-lending-products-for-usd-coin" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Circle wrote in a blog</a> that Genesis would help provide access to USDC-based credit for businesses and merchants relying on USDC for treasury operations and business payments. The services were pegged to go online in late 2020, and Circle’s <a href="https://www.circle.com/en/usdc-yield" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">terms and conditions</a> states that Circle’s Bermuda-based subsidiary had entered lending agreements with “one or more” institutional borrowers, including Genesis. Circle repaid the $25 million back to Genesis in June.



Circle listed 0.25% annual percentage yield (APY) on its yield product on Tuesday, per an internet <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20221115163320/https://www.circle.com/en/products/yield" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">archive</a>. Today, that figure has been reduced to 0%.


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1024" height="408" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Circle-1-1024x408.jpg" alt="circle yield current rates" class="wp-image-39101" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Circle-1-1024x408.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Circle-1-1024x408.jpg?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Circle-1-1024x408.jpg?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Circle-1-1024x408.jpg?w=1536 1536w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Circle-1-1024x408.jpg?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Circle-1-1024x408.jpg?w=470 470w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Circle-1-1024x408.jpg?w=389 389w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Circle-1-1024x408.jpg?w=80 80w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Circle-1-1024x408.jpg?w=50 50w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Circle-1-1024x408.jpg?w=1916 1916w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption>Source: Circle</figcaption></figure></div>


&#8220;Circle chose to change the yield from 0.25% yield to 0% before Genesis closed their credit lines,&#8221; a spokesperson told Blockworks. 



&#8220;Circle Yield has historically been driven by demand to borrow in crypto capital markets. As the macroeconomic environment has shifted, there is a much lower appetite to borrow with over-collateralized loans, which has driven USDC yields in CeFi and DeFi down to 0% to 0.5%.&#8221;



<h3>Gemini Earn withdrawals paused</h3>



Cryptocurrency exchange Gemini is another major industry player to announce issues as the Genesis contagion spreads.



Its Gemini Earn product has paused withdrawals, and the exchange released a <a href="https://www.gemini.com/blog/an-important-message-regarding-gemini-earn" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">statement</a> noting that “We are aware that Genesis Global Capital, LLC (Genesis) — the lending partner of the Earn program — has paused withdrawals and will not be able to meet customer redemptions within the service-level agreement (SLA) of 5 business days.”



However, the exchange also noted that other products and services are unaffected, stating that “Gemini is a full-reserve exchange and custodian. All customer funds held on the Gemini exchange are held 1:1 and available for withdrawal at any time.”



Crypto lender Ledn clarified in a statement issued <a href="https://twitter.com/hodlwithLedn/status/1592868853935050752?s=20&amp;t=ZgOR3L0wzbihlXY1VpEYvA" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">via</a> Twitter that it has moved assets away from Genesis: “When Ledn first began, Genesis was our primary lending partner. Over time, we have reduced concentration risk through the diversification of our list of borrowers. As of October 2022, Ledn no longer has any active lending relationship with Genesis.”



Article updated with statements from Circle, Hut 8, Bitcoin IRA.



<hr class="wp-block-separator">
Get the day’s top crypto news and insights delivered to your email every evening.&nbsp;<a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/newsletter/?source=end" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Subscribe to Blockworks’ free newsletter</a>&nbsp;now.
 
Want alpha sent directly to your inbox? Get degen trade ideas, governance updates, token performance, can’t-miss tweets and more from&nbsp;<a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/research" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Blockworks Research&#8217;s Daily Debrief</a>.
 
Can&#8217;t wait? Get our news the fastest way possible.&nbsp;<a href="https://t.me/blockworks_news" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Join us on Telegram</a> and follow us on <a href="https://news.google.com/publications/CAAqBwgKMPyTxgswn6_dAw" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Google News</a>.
<hr class="wp-block-separator">

Circle Yield Reduced to Zero, Gemini Earn Paused as Genesis Contagion Spreads

<div id="highlights-block_6317b5bca0bf5" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>New coins miners such as Hive are likely considering mining ETC and ETHPoW, according to Valkyrie Investments’ head of research</li>
 <li>Hut 8 Mining ready to pivot 180 GPUs mining ether to focus on artificial intelligence, machine learning and visual effects rendering</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Hive Blockchain Technologies is plotting out ways to optimize its Ethereum mining capabilities as the blockchain’s <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/?s=merge" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">transition</a> from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake quickly approaches. 



The Vancouver-based company is seeking to optimize its 6.5 terahashes of Ethereum mining capacity as the transition gets set to unfold, <a href="https://www.hiveblockchain.com/news/hive-blockchain-provides-august-2022-production-update-record-monthly-btc-production-and-appointment-of-gabriel-ibghy-as-general-counsel/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">it revealed Tuesday</a>. Hive has started analyzing mining other coins with its fleet of graphics processing units (GPUs) and is implementing beta testing this week. 



The company did not immediately return a request for comment.



Josh Olszewicz, head of research at crypto fund manager Valkyrie Investments, told Blockworks that miners are likely considering shifting to Ethereum Classic (ETC), ETHPoW, or other proof-of-work chains.



“EtHash [application-specific integrated circuits] (ASIC) miners have begun shifting to ETC because making less profits is better than making none at all,” he said. “GPU miners, not being able to advantageously compete head-to-head with ASIC miners, will likely move to the ETHPoW fork, when that occurs.”



GPU miners have increased flexibility on what they can mine, however, compared to ASIC miners, Olszewicz said.&nbsp;



Hive’s roughly 38,000 Nvidia GPU cards — including the A4000, A5000, A6000 and A40 models — account for about 2.8 terahashes of the company&#8217;s Ethereum hashrate.



“These cards can be used for cloud computing and AI applications, and rendering for engineering applications, in addition to scientific modeling of fluid dynamics,” the company said in a statement.&nbsp;



A portion of the A40 GPU cards are being applied to cloud computing as part of a pilot program at one of its data centers, the crypto miner added.&nbsp;



Hive Blockchain Technologies mined 821 bitcoin and 7,675 ether during the year’s second quarter, the company reported last month. Its overall production of digital currencies increased by 7% quarter over quarter, as it produced 4% more bitcoin and 20% more ether.



The company said that it has sold ether to fund the expansion of its bitcoin mining program with new generation ASICs. Its ETH position sank from 25,000 ETH to 5,100 ETH, as of Aug. 31. The company held 3,258 BTC on that date.&nbsp;



Meanwhile Hut 8 Mining said in <a href="https://hut8mining.com/2022/09/06/hut-8-mining-production-and-operations-update-for-august-2022/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">a company statement Tuesday</a> that it installed 180 Nvidia GPUs in its data center in British Columbia last month. 



Currently mining ether, the machines will be designed to pivot to offer artificial intelligence, machine learning or visual effects rendering services to customers.



“We are watching the lead-up to the Ethereum Merge very closely, and remain laser-focused on growing our bitcoin stack while building high-performance computing infrastructure to support the future of the digital asset ecosystem,” a Hut 8 spokesperson told Blockworks in an email.



Hut 8 generated 375 bitcoins in August and held 8,111 BTC on Aug. 31.





<hr class="wp-block-separator">
Get the day’s top crypto news and insights delivered to your email every evening.&nbsp;<a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/newsletter/?source=end" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Subscribe to Blockworks’ free newsletter</a>&nbsp;now.
 
Want alpha sent directly to your inbox? Get degen trade ideas, governance updates, token performance, can’t-miss tweets and more from&nbsp;<a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/research" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Blockworks Research&#8217;s Daily Debrief</a>.
 
Can&#8217;t wait? Get our news the fastest way possible.&nbsp;<a href="https://t.me/blockworks_news" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Join us on Telegram</a> and follow us on <a href="https://news.google.com/publications/CAAqBwgKMPyTxgswn6_dAw" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Google News</a>.
<hr class="wp-block-separator">

Miners Hive Blockchain Technologies, Hut 8 Prep for Ethereum Merge

<div id="highlights-block_62f519205fab8" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Hut 8 narrowly missed on revenue, which the bitcoin miner attributed to increasingly volatile market conditions </li>
 <li>The company posted a loss of $0.38 per share</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Canadian crypto miner Hut 8 posted lower-than-expected second quarter revenue, boosting its stock more than 20% after markets opened Thursday.



<a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/tag/hut-8/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Hut 8</a> reported second quarter revenue of $34.3 million, falling short of analysts’ expectations of $38.75 million. The income marked an increase of about $8 million from the first quarter of 2022.



The company owes $23.5 million in outstanding loans, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/crashing-prices-expose-bitcoin-mining-industrys-addiction-to-leverage/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">a trend other mining operators have mirrored in recent months</a>.&nbsp;



During the market downturn — propelled by <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/class-action-suit-accuses-terraform-labs-of-deceiving-investors/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">the demise of Terra stablecoin UST</a> and the subsequent implosion of crypto lenders including <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/tag/celsius/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Celsius</a>, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/tag/blockfi/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">BlockFi</a> and <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/tag/voyager/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Voyager</a> — mining operators were faced with either selling bitcoin near its nadir or taking out increasingly pricy lines of credit to make ends meet.



The revenue jump was primarily driven by Hut 8’s crypto mining operations, the company said in its earnings <a href="https://hut8mining.com/2022/08/11/hut-8-reports-operating-and-financial-results-for-q2-2022/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">report</a>. Hut 8 mined 946 bitcoins in the second quarter, up from 553 bitcoins in the first three months of 2022. An increased hash rate — a measure of computational power for crypto mining — and expanded mining facilities allowed the company to increase its production in spite of the bear market, according to CEO <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaime-leverton-she-her-3033a911/?originalSubdomain=ca" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Jaime Leverton</a>.&nbsp;



“In light of the challenging capital markets environment generally and the ongoing volatility impacting the digital asset space, we remain committed to balance sheet management,” Shane Downey, Hut 8’s chief financial officer, said on the earnings call.&nbsp;



Even with its revenue numbers, Hut 8 posted an increased loss of $0.38 per share, which Leverton said was due to an increase in non-cash revaluation loss on cryptoassets as market conditions have worsened.&nbsp;



“It&#8217;s really difficult for me to see where the need for growth is going to arise over the next six to 12 months when we&#8217;re in really unique market conditions,” Leverton said.



Shares were trading around $3.27 Thursday morning, about a 21% rally before midday. The stock has still lost around 58% year to date — one of an abundance of public crypto companies caught off guard by turbulent market conditions.



The company withdrew its revenue growth guidance provided in its first quarter earnings report.&nbsp;



“I want to emphasize that we believe these rationalizations were prudent to position us well to realize profitable revenue growth in 2023,” Downey said.&nbsp;



Consistent with its “long term” balance sheet management strategy, the company has not sold any bitcoin since early 2021, Downey said. The company has 7,406 bitcoins held in its reserves, he added.





<hr class="wp-block-separator">
Get the day’s top crypto news and insights delivered to your email every evening.&nbsp;<a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/newsletter/?source=end" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Subscribe to Blockworks’ free newsletter</a>&nbsp;now.
 
Want alpha sent directly to your inbox? Get degen trade ideas, governance updates, token performance, can’t-miss tweets and more from&nbsp;<a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/research" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Blockworks Research&#8217;s Daily Debrief</a>.
 
Can&#8217;t wait? Get our news the fastest way possible.&nbsp;<a href="https://t.me/blockworks_news" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Join us on Telegram</a> and follow us on <a href="https://news.google.com/publications/CAAqBwgKMPyTxgswn6_dAw" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Google News</a>.
<hr class="wp-block-separator">

Bitcoin Miner Hut 8 Misses Projections, but Soars 20%

<div id="highlights-block_62d000428e097" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Riot Blockchain sold 300 of the 421 BTC it produced in June to help cover operational expenses</li>
 <li>Hut 8 Mining plans to continue growing its computing business that generates $1.6 million in revenue per month</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



To hold or to sell — that is the question facing many cryptocurrency mining operations. Hut 8 is firmly taking the former approach.



Sue Ennis, Hut 8’s vice president of corporate development, told Blockworks that the company has no intention of selling its bitcoin any time soon.



The Canada-based company has 70 million CAD (about $53 million) on its balance sheet and an uncorrelated computing business generating 1.6 million CAD in revenue per month, Ennis noted. Unlike some competitors, she added, Hut 8 does not have large outstanding capital commitments for machines from orders made during the bull market.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“Last year and well into this year we have focused on how we can diversify our revenue and take a balance sheet-first approach to when we’re buying machines and at what price point we paid for machines, so that we didn’t have to be in a situation, if things went sideways, where we had to sell this very valuable finite asset that we’re all chasing,” she said.



Ennis said Hut 8 would most likely only consider selling bitcoin if the asset’s price jumps well above its all-time highs — pointing to bullish long-term estimates from JPMorgan analysts and Ark Invest CEO Cathie Wood of bitcoin <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/jpmorgan-says-bitcoin-is-13-overvalued/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">hitting $150,000</a> and <a href="https://www.barrons.com/articles/bitcoin-could-hit-500-000-according-to-ark-invests-catherine-wood-51605906264" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$500,000</a>, respectively.&nbsp;



“At that point, maybe it would turn into sell a little bit, reinvest it back into the [computing] and Web3 side of our business,” she explained. “But again, we have no intention right now and no actual price point that we’ve got on our radar.”



Learn more: <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/bitcoin-mining-economics-explained/">Is Bitcoin Mining Still Profitable? The Economics Explained</a>



Bitcoin’s price was about $19,700 at 8 am ET, down roughly 71% from its peak of nearly $70,000 last November.&nbsp;



While Hut 8 Mining seeks to hold its bitcoin for the foreseeable future and continue to grow its cloud computing business, other miners have sold or plan to sell BTC as the crypto downturn drags on.



<a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/crypto-miner-bitfarms-sells-half-its-bitcoin-to-reduce-debt-boost-liquidity/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bitfarms revealed last month</a> that it had sold 3,000 BTC in a one-week span. Chief Financial Officer Jeff Lucas noted that the sales were the best and least expensive source of liquidity in the current market environment.&nbsp;



Texas-based <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/tag/riot-blockchain/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Riot Blockchain</a> started selling a portion of its monthly bitcoin production in March. The company sold 300 of the 421 BTC it produced in June — gaining net proceeds of about $6.2 million — to help cover operational and other expenses. Riot held roughly 6,654 BTC, as of June 30.&nbsp;



The company continues progress on its 400 megawatt infrastructure expansion project at its Whinstone facility in Rockdale, Texas.



“It’s still important to us to have a strong bitcoin balance sheet, so we haven’t sold from the balance sheet per se,” Riot Blockchain CEO Jason Les told Blockworks, noting the firm has sold between 40% and 75% of its monthly bitcoin production. “There’s not a strict framework or policy around that. It’s a decision we are evaluating on a monthly basis.”



Compass Point Research &amp; Trading analysts Chase White and Joe Flynn said in a June 28 research note that while they expect Riot to take on new debt or sell more of its bitcoin output, “the company is well-positioned to weather the volatility in the BTC market given its lack of debt and substantial BTC holdings.”



Hive Blockchain Technologies said in a statement last week that during “challenging times in the market cycle,” its expansion plans will be funded through the selling of its current product of bitcoin and ether (ETH).



The company has been selling ether over the past year to expand its bitcoin footprint, as its ETH position sank from 25,000 ETH to 7,667 ETH. But Hive said in the July 7 update that it seeks to maintain its bitcoin inventory levels, which stood at 3,239 BTC on July 6.



<a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/tag/marathon-digital/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Marathon Digital</a>, which held 10,055 BTC as of June 30, has not sold any bitcoin since October 2020, Charlie Schumacher, the company’s vice president of corporate communications, told Blockworks.



“While we are long-term believers in bitcoin, our decision to continue to HODL is a strategic one, not necessarily a principle,” he said.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">“Bitcoin is a tool that we can leverage. By holding it, we can increase our financial optionality.”</blockquote>



The mining company obtained a $100 million revolving line of credit, secured by bitcoin and USD, with Silvergate Bank last October.



“That being said, given that we produce BTC at a fairly healthy margin, it may make sense for us to sell a portion of our monthly bitcoin production as our production ramps [up] as needed to fund monthly operating costs,” Schumacher said.



<h3>Hut 8 growing its computing business</h3>



Though mining remains Hut 8’s core business — accounting for about 90% of its revenue — Ennis said the company will focus more on its cloud computing and Web3 business. Hut 8 has been gearing up to do so since last year, the executive added, noting that the current macroeconomic downturn did not drive the decision.&nbsp;



Ennis said that its computing business is on track to grow roughly 15% year over year as it seeks to serve more Web3 and blockchain-focused clients.



“Obviously the entire crypto industry has suffered, but at the end of the day, projects still need storage,” she said. “Projects still need security. Projects, especially in the blockchain gaming space, still need digital and render. So it is pretty sticky revenue regardless of what the macro economy is doing.”



Hut 8 acquired five data centers in Canada from wireless connectivity company TerraGo in January. The buy came after <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaime-leverton-she-her-3033a911/?originalSubdomain=ca" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Jaime Leverton</a>, who has a background in data infrastructure transformation, took over as Hut 8’s CEO in December 2020.



Ennis <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/bitcoin-miner-targets-gaming-web3-with-cloud-services-expansion/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">told Blockworks in March</a> that Hut 8 is looking to provide an alternative to cloud computing giants such as Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud and Switch.



Hut 8 inherited government clients, as well as customers in media and entertainment and financial services using its cloud computing services. Though Ennis declined to disclose any new clients on the Web3 side, it has a nine-person sales team building a pipeline.&nbsp;



<h3>Mining consolidation coming soon?</h3>



Steve Russell, co-portfolio manager of Emerald Mutual Funds’ Finance and Banking Innovation Fund (HSSAX), <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/qa-community-banks-moving-forward-with-crypto-plans-despite-downturn-portfolio-manager-says/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">told Blockworks last week</a> that he expects a “shakeout” over the next year or so from which winners and losers in the mining space emerge.



White and Flynn wrote in their research note that lower BTC prices — they estimate averages of $21,500 and $34,000 in the second half of 2022 and all of 2023, respectively — will likely “put a lid” on global hash rate growth.



Ennis said mergers and acquisitions are something that has been on the company’s radar, particularly following the company’s $172 million raise last September.



“I think there’s still some pain to be had,” Ennis said of the sector’s companies.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">“We’ve certainly seen miners selling to pay down their balance sheet and capital commitments for equipment, but we still think there’s still a way to go.”</blockquote>



Les said Riot Blockchain constantly looks at potential merger and acquisition deals.



“We think that with our strong, unlevered balance sheet, we are in a position to be opportunistic here,” he said.



<hr class="wp-block-separator">
Get the day’s top crypto news and insights delivered to your email every evening.&nbsp;<a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/newsletter/?source=end" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Subscribe to Blockworks’ free newsletter</a>&nbsp;now.
 
Want alpha sent directly to your inbox? Get degen trade ideas, governance updates, token performance, can’t-miss tweets and more from&nbsp;<a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/research" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Blockworks Research&#8217;s Daily Debrief</a>.
 
Can&#8217;t wait? Get our news the fastest way possible.&nbsp;<a href="https://t.me/blockworks_news" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Join us on Telegram</a> and follow us on <a href="https://news.google.com/publications/CAAqBwgKMPyTxgswn6_dAw" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Google News</a>.
<hr class="wp-block-separator">

Crypto Mining Firms Take Different Approaches to Selling Bitcoin

<div id="highlights-block_629e53810fb42" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Hut 8 produced 309 bitcoins in May, bringing its total bitcoins in reserve to 7,078</li>
 <li>CEO expects monthly recurring revenue from data center acquisitions will grow by up to 18% this year</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Hut 8 Mining opened its third site after the number of bitcoins in its reserves hit 7,000 as the company continues to amp up capacity despite a broad-based crypto turndown.



The Canadian company’s mine in North Bay, Ontario began operating on 15 megawatts (MW) on June 2, adding roughly 400 petahashes per second (PH/s) to Hut 8&#8217;s operating capacity.&nbsp;



“We are adding both miners and capacity on site and are working to significantly increase production in the coming weeks and months,” Hut 8 CEO <a href="https://twitter.com/jaimeleverton?lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Jaime Leverton</a> told Blockworks in an email, noting its goal is to ultimately reach 30 MW of power at the North Bay operation.



The executive declined to comment on whether the company plans to open additional facilities.



Hut 8 Mining, which also has two sites in southern Alberta, mined 309 bitcoins in May, bringing its total bitcoins in reserve to 7,078. Its current operating capacity is 2.64 exahashes per second (EH/s).



The latest monthly total was the same as its output in April but below its production of 345 bitcoins in March.



Hut 8 limited its consumption at its Drumheller facility when the price of power spiked, the company said Monday.



“Everything we mine, we keep, and 100% of our stack is unencumbered, meaning that in addition to operating efficiently and taking a very strategic approach to equipment purchases and consistently driving efficiencies in our mines, we have a level of flexibility that sets us apart from our peers,” Leverton said.&nbsp;



The company’s third facility follows its acquisition of wireless connectivity company TerraGo at the end of January for $30 million (CAD), which brought five data centers to Hut 8.&nbsp;



Sue Ennis, the firm’s vice president of investor and corporate development, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/bitcoin-miner-targets-gaming-web3-with-cloud-services-expansion/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">told Blockworks in March</a> that Hut 8 is looking to set up scalable cloud services that provide an alternative to cloud computing giants such as Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud and Switch.



Leverton said the data centers purchase has given Hut 8 Mining a monthly recurring revenue stream from 400 enterprise-grade customers, which she expects will grow by up to 18% this year. The company’s certified repair shop provides further revenue and supply chain advantages, she added.



Hut 8’s stock price was $2.23 Monday afternoon, down roughly 70% year to date and down nearly 20% in the last five days.



<hr class="wp-block-separator">
Get the day’s top crypto news and insights delivered to your email every evening.&nbsp;<a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/newsletter/?source=end" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Subscribe to Blockworks’ free newsletter</a>&nbsp;now.
 
Want alpha sent directly to your inbox? Get degen trade ideas, governance updates, token performance, can’t-miss tweets and more from&nbsp;<a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/research" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Blockworks Research&#8217;s Daily Debrief</a>.
 
Can&#8217;t wait? Get our news the fastest way possible.&nbsp;<a href="https://t.me/blockworks_news" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Join us on Telegram</a> and follow us on <a href="https://news.google.com/publications/CAAqBwgKMPyTxgswn6_dAw" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Google News</a>.
<hr class="wp-block-separator">

Hut 8 Mining Opens Third Facility, Hits 7,000 Bitcoins in Reserves

<div id="highlights-block_622130afa88be" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Hut 8 Mining recently acquired five data centers across Canada from TeraGo</li>
 <li>The company finalized a multi-year partnership with Enthusiast Gaming Wednesday</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



One of North America’s largest bitcoin miners is aiming to build out its cloud computing business.&nbsp;



Hut 8 Mining, fresh off a recent acquisition, is looking to diversify its business beyond mining digital assets, Sue Ennis, vice president of investor and corporate development, told Blockworks.



The Toronto-based company mined 289 bitcoins last month and held 6,115 bitcoins on its balance sheet as of Feb. 28. Hut 8 has more than 35,000 mining machines and 109 megawatts of power.



“As the industry has continued to mature, we started asking ourselves…what’s next?” Ennis said.



Hut 8 Mining finalized its purchase of wireless connectivity company TerraGo at the end of January for CAD $30 million, or $23.7 million. The deal brought five Canadian TerraGo data centers to Hut 8.



The idea is to set up scalable cloud services that provide an alternative to cloud computing giants such as Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud and Switch, according to Ennis.&nbsp;



Data centers may have up to 40% of unused cloud space at any given time, she said, which Hut 8 plans to use for Web3 and blockchain-based gaming infrastructure.



This includes gaming rendering, non-fungible token (NFT) storage, node infrastructure management and general storage for exchanges, as well as layer-1 and layer-2 protocols.



“We’re sort of doubling down on this Amazon Web Services for Web3 and blockchain gaming,” Ennis said. “We’re still going to be miners, but we’re just focused on building out and getting more deeply entrenched in the actual full ecosystem.”



The company recently struck a multi-year partnership with Enthusiast Gaming. In exchange for the gaming company integrating Hut 8’s content in its communities in games, the crypto company will host Enthusiast Gaming content in its data centers.



&#8220;Hut 8 has established itself as an innovative leader by bridging digital asset mining with the traditional data center industry, and is now serving both traditional high-performance applications and applications in the gaming and blockchain space,&#8221; Enthusiast Gaming CEO Adrian Montgomery said in a statement.



The alliance bolsters Hut 8’s visibility to Enthusiast Gaming’s 300 million Gen Z and millennial viewers, Ennis said, the majority of whom invest in stocks and crypto.



“It’s the ability [for gamers] to get deeper ties and more attention on our company and what we’re doing, and ultimately hopefully buying our stock in the market, because we’re now where a lot of our retail investors are,” she noted.



The company also has “global ambitions,” Ennis said, including eyeing acquisitions in Dubai and around Asia.



“There are so many entrants who came into this bull market,” she said. “We do think that this year is still going to be a bit volatile, we do think it’ll be a period of consolidation…so, we’re definitely looking and ready to go shopping.”



<hr class="wp-block-separator">
Get the day’s top crypto news and insights delivered to your email every evening.&nbsp;<a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/newsletter/?source=end" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Subscribe to Blockworks’ free newsletter</a>&nbsp;now.
 
Want alpha sent directly to your inbox? Get degen trade ideas, governance updates, token performance, can’t-miss tweets and more from&nbsp;<a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/research" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Blockworks Research&#8217;s Daily Debrief</a>.
 
Can&#8217;t wait? Get our news the fastest way possible.&nbsp;<a href="https://t.me/blockworks_news" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Join us on Telegram</a> and follow us on <a href="https://news.google.com/publications/CAAqBwgKMPyTxgswn6_dAw" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Google News</a>.
<hr class="wp-block-separator">

Bitcoin Miner Targets Gaming, Web3 With Cloud Services Expansion

<div id="highlights-block_620fab1238b5c" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Binance.US taps former Societe Generale and Gemini exec to lead compliance efforts</li>
 <li>Bitfury CEO Brian Brooks and former Ally Financial CEO Michael Carpenter are joining Protego Trust Bank’s board</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Mike White was appointed to lead Disney’s metaverse strategy. He has spent a decade with the company, most recently as senior vice president of consumer experiences and platforms, and will now be in charge of “connecting the physical and digital worlds” for Disney entertainment, CNBC reported.



Before Disney, White had spent nearly 10 years with Yahoo in several roles, including senior director of strategy and technology.



Binance.US has appointed Tammy Weinrib, formerly of Societe Generale and Gemini, as its chief compliance officer. In addition to engaging US regulators and law enforcement agencies, she will lead the company’s know-your-customer (KYC) and anti-money-laundering (AML) programs.



Crypto.com hired Abhi Bisarya as executive vice president of product, after more than two decades leading product teams at Google, PayPal and Visa.



Bisarya, who led the team that launched the new Google Pay app, will now focus on advancing the adoption of cryptocurrency.



James Beer is set to join Hut 8 Mining as senior vice president of operations to support the company’s expansion.



Beer comes to the Toronto-based miner from eStruxture Data Centers, according to his LinkedIn profile. He has 20 years of experience within service provider organizations serving mission-critical facilities operations, colocation, site design and construction, network architecture, security and managed services.



Hut 8 has also announced the hire of Josh Rayner as its vice president of sales. Formerly working as director of sales at Beanfield Metroconnect, Rayner will focus on the company&#8217;s recently acquired data center and managed services business.



Protego Trust Bank named Brian Brooks and Michael Carpenter to its board as the bank gets set to become a federally chartered national bank.



Brooks, the CEO of blockchain technology company Bitfury, was the CEO at Binance.US for several months <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/brian-brooks-resigns-as-binanceus-ceo/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">but resigned in August</a>, citing “differences over strategic direction” in a Twitter post. He had also previously worked as acting <a href="https://www.occ.treas.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">comptroller of the currency</a>.



Carpenter was CEO of Ally Financial from November 2009 to February 2015 and is currently on the board of CIT Group and CIT Bank.



Crypto platform FalconX hired Jon Kaplan as head of revenue to help expand the platform’s solutions offered to institutional clients.



Kaplan spent six years at Pinterest, where he was responsible for the company&#8217;s global revenue operations. Before that, he worked at Google for 12 years as vice president of US sales.



The announcement comes after FalconX announced it is looking to fill hundreds of roles after a <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/falconx-coindcx-hit-unicorn-status-amid-uncertain-regulatory-environment/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$210 million fundraise</a> in August. <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/the-latest-in-crypto-hiring-paypal-crypto-com-add-to-digital-assets-headcount/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The company hired</a> a head of people and a vice president of security earlier this month.



Neal Gorevic joined ConsenSys as the blockchain software company’s chief marketing officer after working as Spotify’s global head of consumer marketing.



Among the roughly 370 people ConsenSys has hired in the last seven months, nearly half came from working in the Web2 ecosystem, a spokesperson told Blockworks. About a third of the new hires joined the company from a different industry.



<hr class="wp-block-separator">
Get the day’s top crypto news and insights delivered to your email every evening.&nbsp;<a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/newsletter/?source=end" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Subscribe to Blockworks’ free newsletter</a>&nbsp;now.
 
Want alpha sent directly to your inbox? Get degen trade ideas, governance updates, token performance, can’t-miss tweets and more from&nbsp;<a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/research" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Blockworks Research&#8217;s Daily Debrief</a>.
 
Can&#8217;t wait? Get our news the fastest way possible.&nbsp;<a href="https://t.me/blockworks_news" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Join us on Telegram</a> and follow us on <a href="https://news.google.com/publications/CAAqBwgKMPyTxgswn6_dAw" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Google News</a>.
<hr class="wp-block-separator">

The Latest in Crypto Hiring: Disney Names Metaverse Lead

<div id="highlights-block_61ae3d8c27a91" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Hut 8 Mining, Riot Blockchain, Marathon Digital and HIVE Blockchain Technologies held nearly 19,000 bitcoin combined at the end of November</li>
 <li>Riot Blockchain recently bought ESS Metron, while Marathon Digital expanded its agreement with Compute North to host more than 100,000 of its bitcoin miners</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Crypto miners continue to hold the bitcoin they are producing, and some have plans to grow their businesses even more to continue building reserves.&nbsp;



Some of the largest such companies in North America — Hut 8 Mining, Riot Blockchain, Marathon Digital and HIVE Blockchain Technologies — now hold roughly 18,940 bitcoins combined. The businesses continue to expand their operational footprints in an effort to increase their production capacities.



Other companies, such as Celsius Network, are looking to catch up. Celsius started its bitcoin mining business last year as a way to diversify its sources of yield, and announced an <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/celsius-to-invest-additional-300m-in-bitcoin-mining/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">additional $300 million investment</a> into its mining capabilities last month.    



<h3>Hut 8 Mining</h3>



Hut 8 Mining mined 265 bitcoins in November, an average of nearly nine per day, the company revealed. The total last month was up from 249 bitcoins mined in October and slightly lower than its output of 273 the month prior.



The Canada-based miner is keeping all of its mined bitcoin as part of its <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/marathon-digital-hut-8-mining-building-up-bitcoin-reserves/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">broader “hodl” strategy</a>, the firm noted in a December 2 announcement. Its reserves total 5,242 bitcoin, as of November 30, and about 2,000 of its bitcoins are earning yield, according to the firm.



The value of Hut 8’s reserves as of Monday at 12 Noon ET — when bitcoin was priced at about $49,100 — was roughly $257 million.



Hut 8, in November, completed the deployment of NVIDIA chips at the company’s site in Medicine Hat, Alberta. The NVIDIA cryptocurrency mining processors mine the Ethereum network via Luxor pool and are receiving payouts in bitcoin, which equate to about two additional bitcoin per day.&nbsp;



The company currently has an installed hashrate of approximately 1.7 exahash per second (EH/s). The company is on track to meet its goal of between 2.5 EH/s and 3 EH/s by the end of the year, a representative told Blockworks, and looks to reach 6 EH/s by the middle of 2022.&nbsp;



The development of Hut 8’s <a href="https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/hut-8-mining-announces-third-site-status-update-846652660.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">third mining site</a> in North Bay, Ontario, is under way, the spokesperson added. The facility, expected to be ready by the end of the year, will begin with 35 megawatts of capacity.



<h3>Riot Blockchain</h3>



Colorado-based Riot Blockchain produced 466 bitcoin in November, bringing its year-to-date total to 3,387 BTC — roughly a 260% increase over its bitcoin production over the same period last year.



Riot held 4,464 bitcoins, all produced by its mining operations, as of November 30. It has a deployed fleet of 29,095 miners with a hashrate capacity of 3 EH/s.&nbsp;



The company has increased its 2022 estimated hashrate capacity to 9.0 EH/s due to a recent $33 million purchase order with Bitmain for 3,000 of its latest miner model S19XP. The delivery and deployment of these machines is expected in the second half of 2022.



Riot also announced last week that it bought ESS Metron, which designs and produces electrical equipment solutions, many of which the acquirer said are critical to deploying bitcoin mining operations at scale.



Denver-based ESS Metron has facilities that total 121,000 square feet, and the company is a key supplier to Riot’s Whinstone facility in Rockdale, Texas.



“Riot’s strategic positioning across the electrical supply chain is significantly enhanced as the company will benefit from ESS Metron’s existing relationships with leading electrical suppliers globally,” Riot CEO Jason Les said in a statement. “In addition, Riot will continue its fast-tracked expansion project as the company benefits from internalizing ESS Metron’s engineering and industry expertise.”&nbsp;



<h3>Marathon Digital</h3>



Marathon Digital, a bitcoin miner based in Las Vegas, is also focused on growth.&nbsp;



The company mined 196 bitcoins in November, which was down from 417.7 bitcoins in October. The sharp decrease reflects maintenance and upgrades to its power generating station in Hardin, Montana.



The miner’s existing mining fleet consists of 31,000 active miners producing roughly 3.2 EH/s. It has produced 2,712 bitcoins in the first 11 months of 2021, bringing its bitcoin holdings total to 7,649.&nbsp;



The company last sold bitcoin in October 2020, and since then, has been accumulating all the bitcoin it generates.



“I think all miners believe that the price of bitcoin will go up, and by not selling bitcoin, we essentially cause the price to go up somewhat,” Marathon Digital CEO Fred Thiel <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/marathon-digital-hut-8-mining-building-up-bitcoin-reserves/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">previously told Blockworks</a>. 



Marathon received about 15,500 ASIC miners from Bitmain in November, bringing its year-to-date total to 57,000 miners. An additional 8,477 miners are currently in transit, the firm reported.



The company recently expanded its agreement with Compute North to host more than 100,000 of Marathon’s previously purchased bitcoin miners at multiple locations, including wind and solar farms across the US.



The news follows Marathon announcing its intention in May for Compute North to host roughly 73,000 of Marathon’s bitcoin miners in Texas.



Once all 133,000 of Marathon’s bitcoin miners are deployed, the company’s hash rate will be approximately 13.3 EH/s, its blended cost of electricity and hosting will be approximately $0.042 per kilowatt-hour, and Marathon’s mining operations will be approximately 77% carbon-neutral.\



<h3>HIVE Blockchain Technologies</h3>



Vancouver-headquartered HIVE Blockchain Technologies produced 218 bitcoins in November and held a total of 1,584 as of the end of the month.&nbsp;



“We are very pleased to report HIVE has continued its strong momentum following our record-breaking October production figures,” HIVE Executive Chairman Frank Holmes said in a statement. “This trend is continued in our November production, where HIVE is again generating over $280 million in annual revenue on a run-rate basis using November figures.”



HIVE also mined 2,334 ether in November, as the company stated in a December 3 news release that it believes its unique position of having a large bitcoin and Ethereum mining footprint provides investors a unique value proposition.



MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor, an outspoken proponent of bitcoin, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/michael-saylor-bitcoin-is-a-trillion-dollar-opportunity-for-tech-giants/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said in July</a> that there’s a “land grab” to acquire as much bitcoin as possible, noting the ultimate maximum of 21 million that will one day be in circulation. The company’s <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/microstrategy-announces-new-414-4m-bitcoin-buy/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">latest bitcoin buy</a> was 7,002 bitcoins at an average price of $59,187, according to Saylor. MicroStrategy now holds about 121,000 bitcoins acquired for nearly $3.6 billion — an average price of about $29,500.



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>
Get the day’s top crypto news and insights delivered to your inbox every evening.&nbsp;<a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/newsletter/?source=end" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Subscribe to Blockworks’ free newsletter</a>&nbsp;now.
<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>

Crypto Miners Continue Raking in Bitcoin and Holding

<div id="highlights-block_615e028793ef8" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Bitcoin miners are increasingly adopting a mine-and-hold strategy as demand for mining hardware increases</li>
 <li>Riot seeking to raise its current hash rate capacity of 2.6 exahash per second (EH/s) to 7.7 EH/s by fourth quarter of 2022</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Riot Blockchain’s bitcoin production numbers in September quadrupled year over year as the mining company has so far produced nearly 2,500 BTC in 2021.&nbsp;



The Colorado-based miner produced 406 bitcoins last month and now holds 3,534 BTC, all of which were produced by its mining operations, Riot Blockchain reported on Tuesday.



“Not only do we have a team of bitcoiners heading up our industry-leading bitcoin mining operations, but we fully support the bitcoin network,” CEO Jason Les told Blockworks in an email. “Therefore, we believe holding onto our 3,534 bitcoin … is aligned with our strategy as a bitcoin company.”



Bitcoin’s price was up 8% in the last 24 hours to about $54,740 as of 3 p.m. ET on Wednesday, according to <a href="https://www.coingecko.com/en">CoinGecko data</a>, giving Riot’s held bitcoin a value of about 193 million.&nbsp;&nbsp;



&#8220;We have historically seen that when bitcoin price appreciates and mining economics improve, demand for mining hardware increases,” Viridi Funds CEO Wes Fulford said to Blockworks in an email. “As a result, bitcoin miners are increasingly adopting a “mine and hold” strategy as the bitcoin on their balance sheets serves as a natural hedge against inflated [capital expenditure] spending driven by these opportunistic, demand-driven hardware price increases.” 



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">In September, <a href="https://twitter.com/RiotBlockchain?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RiotBlockchain</a> mined 406 BTC, sold none of its production, and ended the month with 3,534 BTC on its balance sheet. Publicly traded <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Bitcoin?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Bitcoin</a> miners aren&#39;t selling bitcoin, they are accumulating bitcoin. The game has changed. <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%24RIOT&amp;src=ctag&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">$RIOT</a><a href="https://t.co/Kk4hepCA6U">https://t.co/Kk4hepCA6U</a>&mdash; Michael Saylor⚡️ (@saylor) <a href="https://twitter.com/saylor/status/1445503853315563531?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 5, 2021</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



Bitcoin miners earned $1.3 billion in revenue from block rewards and transaction fees during September, a 7% decline from the prior month, according to a Compass Mining report published Wednesday.&nbsp;



Riot competitors Marathon Digital and Hut 8 Mining <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/marathon-digital-hut-8-mining-building-up-bitcoin-reserves/">recently reported</a> mining 340.6 and 264 bitcoins, respectively last month, bringing the companies’ combined total of bitcoin held to nearly 12,000.



“Given the fixed maximum supply of Bitcoin, continued miner accumulation will result in less daily exchange supply and act as a bullish tailwind for the price of Bitcoin,” Fulford added.



Las Vegas-based Marathon also obtained a $100 million revolving line of credit, secured by bitcoin and USD, with Silvergate Bank, allowing it to purchase more miners and cover other expenses without being forced to sell its bitcoin or stock.



“One large miner holding their bitcoin rather than selling will likely not have a direct effect on the market,” said Compass Mining CEO Whit Gibbs. “However this strategy of accumulating bitcoin on the company&#8217;s balance sheet will lead to a healthy increase in the company&#8217;s valuation.” 



 Riot Blockchain eyes growth



Riot Blockchain currently has a deployed fleet of 25,646 miners with a hash rate capacity of 2.6 exahash per second (EH/s). In late September, 2,000 S19J Pro Antminers were shipped to Riot’s Whinstone facility.



Riot <a href="https://www.riotblockchain.com/news-media/press-releases/detail/109/riot-blockchain-completes-acquisition-of-whinstone-us">completed its acquisition</a> of Whinstone US from Northern Data in May for 11.8 million shares of Riot common stock and $80 million in cash. Based in Rockdale, Texas, Whinstone’s 100-acre site had a total power capacity of 750 megawatts, at the time Riot announced the acquisition, with 300 megawatts developed.



“We believe the acquisition of Whinstone remains a transformational decision for the company and provides additional capacity for miner deployment as well as optionality for alternative miner/datacenter hosting,” states a Compass Pointe Research &amp; Trading note published in August. “Bitcoin miners are highly correlated with their underlying asset although we believe Riot should continue to outperform given its significant scale.”



Another 4,000 S19J Pro Antminers are scheduled to be shipped from Bitmain’s Malaysia factory this month, the firm reported. By the fourth quarter of 2022, Riot intends to have roughly 81,000 Bitmain Antminers up and running.



“Our hash rate and presence in the space continues to grow at unprecedented rates, particularly with the continued development of Riot’s Whinstone facility,” Les said. “As our successful scaling continues into 2022, we anticipate a hash rate of 7.7 EH/s along with a continued dedication to holding the undeniable value that is Bitcoin.” 



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



Are you a UK or EU reader that can’t get enough investor-focused content on digital assets? <a target="_blank" href="https://cms.blockworks.co/events/das-london/" rel="noreferrer noopener">Join us</a> in London on November 15th and 16th for the Digital Asset Summit (DAS) London. Use code ARTICLE for £75 off your ticket. <a target="_blank" href="https://cms.blockworks.co/events/das-london/" rel="noreferrer noopener">Buy it now</a>. 



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>

Riot Blockchain Seeks to Triple Hash Rate Capacity by Q4 2022

<div id="highlights-block_615b539fe7ed7" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Hut 8 Mining and Marathon Digital now hold nearly 12,000 bitcoin combined after mining about 600 in September</li>
 <li>Marathon focused on partnering with power companies and mulling international expansion, CEO Fred Thiel tells Blockworks</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Two of North America’s largest bitcoin miners, <meta charset="utf-8">Marathon Digital and Hut 8 mining, are choosing to hold the bitcoin they are producing, and one is now borrowing against its bitcoin to purchase mining equipment.&nbsp;



Marathon produced 340.6 bitcoins during September, increasing its total bitcoin holdings to 7,035, <a href="https://ir.marathondh.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/1259/marathon-digital-holdings-announces-bitcoin-production-and" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">the company reported</a> on Monday. With bitcoin valued at about $49,100 as of 3:30 pm ET on Monday, the US dollar value of Marathon’s bitcoin holdings currently stand at roughly $345 million.



Marathon holds all of the bitcoin it produces, CEO Fred Thiel told Blockworks in an interview, noting that he expects “great movement” in bitcoin’s price this quarter. Though there has been resistance of bitcoin hitting $50,000 in recent weeks, Thiel added, once it reaches $55,000, he expects the price will likely quickly jump to $75,000.



“By miners holding bitcoin and not liquidating, it creates a liquidity crunch in the marketplace, which goes to help the price of bitcoin,” the CEO explained. “Not that miners are collaborating on this in any way, but I think all miners believe that the price of bitcoin will go up, and by not selling bitcoin, we essentially cause the price to go up somewhat.”



<a href="https://www.hut8mining.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Hut 8 Mining</a> mined 264 bitcoin in September and is choosing to hold all of it, the Toronto-based company announced on Monday. It had 4,724 bitcoins in its reserves, as of September 30, which is currently worth about $230 million.



Last month, Hut 8 also installed 600 servers consisting of 2400 NVIDIA cryptocurrency mining processor graphics processing units (CMPGPU). The company has earned CAD $265,000 (USD $210,000) to date from the deployment.



&#8220;We are thrilled with our current amount of Bitcoin held in reserve as well as being ahead of schedule on our commitment to the market to have over 5,000 self-mined Bitcoin by [the] end of Q4,&#8221; Hut 8 Mining CEO Jaime Leverton said in a statement.



A company spokesperson did not immediately return Blockworks’ request for further comment.&nbsp;



The addition of more bitcoin to the reserves of Marathon and Hut 8 Mining come after MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor said during the company’s <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/michael-saylor-bitcoin-is-a-trillion-dollar-opportunity-for-tech-giants/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">third quarter earnings</a> call that there is a “land grab” to acquire as much of the eventual capped limit of 21 million bitcoin as possible.



“​​If you mine #BTC but don’t sell it, isn’t that the same as buying it?” Saylor <a href="https://twitter.com/michael_saylor/status/1445005062850363395" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">wrote in a Twitter post</a> on Monday in response to Hut 8&#8217;s announcement.



Saylor&#8217;s company <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/microstrategy-buys-243m-more-worth-of-bitcoin/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">purchased 5,050 bitcoins</a> for about $243 million last month, according to <a href="https://www.microstrategy.com/content/dam/website-assets/collateral/financial-documents/financial-document-archive/form-8-k_09-13-2021.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">a disclosure</a> filed with the SEC. After the purchase, MicroStrategy held 114,042 bitcoins, which it acquired for an average price of $27,713, or nearly $3.2 billion in total, Saylor noted at the time.



In addition to Hut 8 Mining, some of Marathon’s largest North American competitors are Riot Blockchain and Core Scientific. The latter two companies did not yet publicly release their September production numbers.



<h3>Marathon’s growth plans</h3>



In addition to adding more bitcoin to its reserves, Marathon announced on October 1 that it obtained a $100 million revolving line of credit, secured by bitcoin and USD, with Silvergate Bank. The Las Vegas-based company may use the line of credit for “general corporate purposes” related to its bitcoin mining business, such as bitcoin mining equipment, according to a company statement.



Saylor and Dylan LeClair, co-founder of <a href="https://21stparadigm.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">21st Paradigm</a> and head of market research at Bitcoin Magazine, both highlighted the agreement on Twitter, with LeClair writing, “This is just the start.”



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Bitcoin?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Bitcoin</a> miners are now partnering with Federal Reserve member banks to borrow against their <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%24BTC&amp;src=ctag&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">$BTC</a> to purchase additional mining equipment and cover expenses. This is just the start. <a href="https://t.co/uF7sOnuq9r">https://t.co/uF7sOnuq9r</a>&mdash; Dylan LeClair 🟠 (@DylanLeClair_) <a href="https://twitter.com/DylanLeClair_/status/1445036349422284806?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 4, 2021</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



The line of credit will be initially available for one year and may be renewed annually. Thiel noted that the agreement with Silvergate gives Marathon the ability to acquire more miners, for example, if there is a compelling opportunity.&nbsp;



“We want Marathon to be very agile, and to be agile you have to have resources and have the ability to move quickly when you want to,” he explained. “We don’t ever want to be in a position where we’re forced to sell our bitcoin or sell equity at prices that we don’t think are appropriate.”



In terms of growth plans, Marathon announced in August that it had entered into a contract with Bitmain to purchase an additional 30,000 Antminer S19j Pro miners for $121 million. As a result of this shipment, expected to arrive throughout the first half of 2022, the company’s mining operations will consist of more than 133,000 Bitcoin miners, producing about 13.3 exahashes per second (EH/s). 



That forecasted rate would have represented about 12% of the Bitcoin network’s total hash rate of 109 EH/s as of August 1.&nbsp;



Thiel added that Marathon is focused on teaming up with power companies, which he said would likely become “the single largest group of miners in the world.”&nbsp;



“The power companies have the biggest incentive into mining, especially [with] renewable energy because bitcoin mining is the perfect baseload for renewable energy installation,” the CEO explained. “We believe that the power companies are the perfect partners for Marathon directly where they provide power and the hosting infrastructure … and then we partner with them on the [miner hardware] and the mining operations side.”



The company <a href="https://ir.marathondh.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/1247/marathon-digital-holdings-announces-bitcoin-production-and" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">previously announced</a> plans to commence installing 73,000 miners at a new 300-megawatt facility in Texas, and will look to expand to other states with a focus on renewable energy sites. Marathon’s goal is to be 100% carbon-neutral with its mining operations by the end of 2022.&nbsp;



“We may expand internationally. &#8230;It’s not off the radar screen,” Thiel added.