Author | Wu talks about blockchain
Sponsored by Bitdeer, a Nasdaq-listed mining company
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Bitdeer announced that it has received up to $150 million in private placement financing. Tether said that Bitdeer is one of the most powerful vertically integrated operators in the Bitcoin mining industry, and its cutting-edge technology and strong R&D organization make it stand out. It looks forward to working closely with Bitdeer in multiple key infrastructure areas in the future. The transaction generates total proceeds of $100 million in stock issuance and can provide an additional $50 million if the warrants are fully exercised.
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Bitcoin mining company Riot Platforms announced its first quarter 2024 financial report, with a net profit of $211.8 million and earnings per share of $0.82 in the first quarter, setting a new quarterly performance record. Total revenue for the quarter was $79.3 million (mining revenue and engineering revenue), mining revenue was $74.6 million, a total of 1,364 BTC were produced, and the average mining cost was $23,034. Operating funds for the quarter were $692.5 million, including $688.5 million in cash on hand and 8,490 unused BTC.
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Bitcoin mining company Marathon Digital released its April operating report, producing a total of 850 BTC this month, a year-on-year increase of 21%. In April, 600 BTC were sold to support monthly operations, manage finances, and general corporate purposes. As of April 30, the mining company held 17,631 BTC, and the total balance of unrestricted cash and cash equivalents and Bitcoin fell from US$1.563 billion to US$1.214 billion.
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Marathon Digital mined a total of 2,811 bitcoins (about $176 million) in the first quarter of 2024. The company's net profit in the first quarter increased by 184% from the same period last year to $337.2 million; revenue increased by 223% year-on-year to $165.2 million. Marathon Digital revealed that it sold 26% of the bitcoins mined in the first quarter to cover operating costs. The company currently has $1.6 billion in capital reserves, including cash, cash equivalents and bitcoin. (The Block)
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Bitcoin mining company Core Scientific released an unaudited production and operation update for April 2024. In April, it mined 803 bitcoins and had a total reserve of 3,628 bitcoins. It completed the deployment of the new Bitmain S21 mining machine. As of April 30, 2024, it operated approximately 224,000 self-owned and managed Bitcoin mining machines with a total computing power of 26.7 exahash. Crypto mining company Core Scientific mined more than $175 million worth of Bitcoin (2,825 coins) in the first quarter of 2024, achieving a net profit of $210.7 million, compared with a net loss of approximately $400,000 in the same period last year. The company's total revenue was $179.3 million and adjusted EBITDA was $88 million.
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After S&P Global announced that it would include Marathon Digital in its small-cap index, the bitcoin miner's stock price rose 18% on Monday, adding about $800 million to its market value. In addition, Marathon also submitted an 8-k to the SEC on the same day, outlining the bonus structure for executives, with a total value of $32.9 million. Executives who received bonuses include CEO Fred Thiel, CFO Salman Khan and General Counsel Zabi Nowaid. However, Marathon Digital's stock price is still down 9.8% this year. (The Block)
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Other publicly traded bitcoin mining companies such as Bitfarms, Cipher, CleanSpark, Core Scientific, Riot and Terawulf reported that their bitcoin production in April was only about 6% to 12% lower, as a strong bitcoin fee market (mainly due to the launch of Runes) temporarily offset the impact of the halving. However, as the Runes craze fades, it is expected that the bitcoin production of major mining companies in May may drop significantly year-on-year.
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Bitcoin mining machine manufacturer Canaan Technology announced the launch of the Avalon A15 series product A1566. This upgraded Bitcoin mining machine has an energy efficiency ratio of 18.5J/T, a computing power of 185T, and a power consumption of 3420W.
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CleanSpark, a US Bitcoin mining company, announced its latest quarterly financial report. As of March 31, 2024, quarterly revenue increased to $111.8 million, net profit was $126.7 million, and adjusted EBITDA was $181.8 million. In addition, CleanSpark held $323 million in cash and $358 million in Bitcoin at the end of this quarter.
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Bitdeer announced its first quarter 2024 financial report, with total revenue of $119.5 million, up 64.6% year-on-year; net profit of $600,000, compared with a net loss of $9.5 million in the same period of 2023; adjusted profit of $8.4 million; adjusted EBITDA of $26 million. As of March 31, 2024, it held $118.5 million in cash and cash equivalents; managed 226,000 ASIC mining machines; self-mined 911 bitcoins in the first quarter of 2024, with a total computing power of 22.5 EH/s.
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U.S. President Biden has issued an order prohibiting a Chinese-controlled cryptocurrency mining company from owning property near an Air Force base in Wyoming, citing national security risks. Biden further requested divestment of the property, which is just one mile from Francis Warren Air Force Base, according to a statement released by the U.S. Treasury Department on Monday. Chinese-controlled MineOne Partners Limited acquired the property in June 2022 and modified it for cryptocurrency mining operations. (The Block)
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Since September 2021, El Salvador has mined 473.5 BTC, worth about $29 million, powered by geothermal energy generated by the country's Tecapa volcano. El Salvador's official government entity, the "Bitcoin Office," reports that the country's government coffers now hold 5,750 BTC, worth about $354 million. Earlier this year, El Salvador had installed 300 processors to mine BTC using the volcano; of the 102 megawatts (MW) produced by the state-owned power plant, 1.5 MW is used for cryptocurrency mining. In addition, the country's "Bitcoin Office" said that miners Foundry USA, Ant pool, ViaBTC, F2Pool and Binance Pool have pooled their resources to win rewards for opening a blockchain that can verify Bitcoin transactions from the power plant over the past three years.
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Bitcoin mining company Bitfarms said it recently doubled the contracted power generation capacity of its Yguazu base in Paraguay from 100 megawatts, and received confirmation from Canadian tax authorities in April that the previously paid $24 million in value-added tax would be refunded, and the average direct production cost per BTC would be reduced by $2,100 in the first quarter of 2024. Bitfarms sold 941 BTC at an average price of $52,700 in the first quarter of 2024, with a total proceeds of $50 million, and sold 245 of 269 BTC in April 2024, with a total proceeds of $16 million.
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Canaan Technology announced its first quarter financial report for 2024. As of March 31, 2024, total revenue was $35.09 million, of which product revenue was $23.44 million and mining revenue was $10.46 million. Net loss was $39.39 million, a decrease of 71.7% from the previous month. The number of bitcoins held by the company exceeded 1,000 for the first time, reaching 1,057. Canaan said that it will soon deliver the Avalon A14 series on a large scale and launch the Avalon A1566 mining machine. Customer prepayments have almost doubled compared to the end of 2023, and prepayments will be converted into revenue in the second and third quarters.
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Somboun Sangxayarath, an adviser to the state-owned Electricity of Laos (EDL), said that the increase in electricity demand in Laos due to cryptocurrency mining and erratic rainfall has led to power shortages. Sangxayarath said that the policy push to build data centers in 2021 has led to a boom in cryptocurrency mining operations, which now accounts for more than a third of Laos' electricity demand, while reduced rainfall has suppressed hydropower production, leading to power outages. Laos said last year that it would not supply electricity to cryptocurrency projects that have not yet begun operations.
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Phoenix Group, a listed Bitcoin mining company and blockchain technology provider, announced its first quarter financial report. Net profit in the first quarter reached $66.2 million, a year-on-year increase of 166%; total assets increased by 237% year-on-year, from $261 million to $879.3 million; total assets increased by 5% month-on-month; revenue increased by 18% month-on-month to $68.9 million; gross profit increased by 82.8% month-on-month to $23.28 million; total comprehensive income increased by 312% year-on-year to $102.28 million, an increase of 33.7% month-on-month; earnings per share were $0.011.
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The Venezuelan government recently announced that it would shut down all Bitcoin mining farms in the country from the national power system due to frequent power outages and power rationing problems, as well as an investigation into digital platform fraud at the national oil company PDVSA. In addition, the government recently seized 2,300 Bitcoin mining machines in a search in Aragua state.
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BitFuFu, a Bitcoin mining company under Bitmain, announced its first quarter financial report for 2024. As of March 31, 2024, total revenue was US$144.4 million and net profit was US$35.3 million; the combined balance of cash, cash equivalents and digital assets was US$163.7 million; 1,103 BTC were self-mined in the first quarter, with an average mining cost of US$39,000; total mining capacity was 28.6 EH/s.
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Bitcoin mining company Marathon Digital (MARA) has reached an agreement with the Kenyan Ministry of Energy and Petroleum to invest more than $80 million in the development of Kenya's energy infrastructure. The cooperation aims to "monetize underutilized energy and jointly develop technology projects," said Fred Thiel, CEO of Marathon. The investment will be used for green data centers, and the funds will include foreign investment, but the source of funds was not specified. (CoinDesk)
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The Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority issued a circular prohibiting the use of farms for cryptocurrency mining, and violators will face a fine of up to 10,000 dirhams (about $2,722). Despite this, the UAE remains a friendly region for Bitcoin mining. Data from 2023 shows that its Bitcoin mining capacity accounts for about 4% of the global computing power.
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Crypto mining company Riot Platforms seeks to acquire Bitcoin miner BitFarms. Riot Platforms has acquired a 9.25% stake in Bitfarms and plans to make a public takeover offer, but was rejected by the company last month. People familiar with the matter revealed that Riot has proposed to acquire Bitfarms for $2.30 per share in cash and stock, equivalent to an equity value of $950 million. Riot believes that Bitfarms' recent management changes indicate problems with corporate governance and plans to initiate a vote to increase the number of directors of the Canadian company.
