With the exodus of mining operations from China, after the country’s ban on cryptocurrencies hit the digital currency market, a wave of clean energy demands are rippling through the digital mining sector. This has sparked a rising interest in sustainable crypto mining operations, including ongoing projects from Riot Blockchain, Inc. (NASDAQ:RIOT), Marathon Digital Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:MARA), BIT Digital (NASDAQ:BTBT), Bitfarms (NASDAQ:BITF), and EV Battery Technologies (CSE:ACDC) (OTCQB:CRYBF).
Blockchain and battery technology innovators EV Battery Technologies (CSE:ACDC) (OTCQB:CRYBF) recently made the official leap into cryptocurrency mining, announcing the acquisition of a large-scale mining infrastructure company, Optimal CP Inc..
Continuing as part of its company initiative to increase its exposure to cryptocurrency, EV Battery Tech now has development rights to power and infrastructure for 1,000 ASIC miners in Western Canada.
"We began the pivot into the crypto space which has allowed our shareholders to participate in this market, whilst we continue to build out our products and services, and build further shareholder value," commented EV Battery Tech CEO, Bryson Goodwin.
"The acquisition of Optimal will provide us with an ideal opportunity to become a significant cryptocurrency miner!" Prior to the acquisition, Optimal was already developing numerous facilities in Canada’s ‘energy hub’ of Alberta that will leverage direct access to clean, reliable, low-cost power generation facilities that can provide some of the lowest-cost, cleanest and most reliable mining operations in world.
"Optimal is thrilled to be working with EV Battery Tech in the build-out of its asset portfolio in Alberta" remarked Kevin Gilchrist, Optimal’s CEO.
"We believe that the Company's approach to blockchain-based technology and its move towards cryptocurrency is an ideal fit for Optimal's strategy to develop clean, cost-effective and reliable mining operations in Alberta." This acquisition closely follows EV Battery Tech’s other recent moves into crypto, including the co-launch of the Daymak Spiritus, a three-wheeler EV with crypto mining capability and the Daymak Solar Tree which is the world’s first commercial emission-free cryptocurrency mining solution; the acquisition of CryptoPlug which has been developing a blockchain-based crypto-compatible application for smartphones; and the collaboration with the Renewable Obligation Base energy economy Protocol (ROBe2 Protocol) through its IONiX Pro subsidiary.
Earlier this year, Riot Blockchain, Inc. (NASDAQ:RIOT) bought a 300MW mining site in Rockdale, Texas, called Whinstone. The operation is so far one of the two facilities in the region that has signed on for the state’s grid operator, Elecrtic Reliability Council of Texas’ “controllable load resource” program that pays a premium to industrial users that will allow the grid operator to automatically reduce or increase their power usage when needed.
During Riot’s latest Q3 2021 operational update, the company increased its mining revenue by 2,099% to a record level of $53.6 million for the quarter—while also increasing its deployed hash rate capacity by 63%, from 1.6 EH/s to 2.6 EH/s. At Whinstone, as to the end of September, Riot increased its hash rate capacity to 2.8 EH/s. By Q4 2022, the company anticipates a total self-mining hash rate capacity of 8.6 EH/s.
"Riot's technology-focused, vertically integrated strategy significantly de-risks the Company's future growth plans," said Jason Les, CEO of Riot.
"With these strengths of Riot at play, the future financial opportunities for the Company are exciting." Growing at an even faster pace year-over-year, Marathon Digital Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:MARA) announced its Q3 2021 results earlier in November, which included a 6,091% increase in revenues over the same period from 2020 to 2021. Even from the previous quarter to Q3, Marathon increased its revenue by 76%. As of September 30, 2021, Marathon increased its total number of deployed miners to 25,272 miners, which could generate ~2.7 EH/s.
"In the third quarter, we increased our hash rate to 2.7 EH/s and generated 1,252 self-mined bitcoins, which is a 91% increase from our second quarter bitcoin production," said Fred Thiel, Marathon’s CEO.
"As a result, we held approximately 7,035 BTC at the end of the third quarter, and we are continuing to grow these holdings each month as we increase our hash rate and maintain our strategy to 'hodl' the bitcoin we mine." As it pulls it fleet out of China, BIT Digital (NASDAQ:BTBT) updated the market in its latest Q3 2021 financial results, assuring that as of September 30, 2021, they no longer had any miners remaining in the country. As of that same time period, BIT Digital owned 27,744 miners an estimated maximum total hash rate of 1.603 Exahash (“EH/s”).
Consistent with BIT Digital’s leadership in sustainability, the energy used by their mining system is expected to be generated primarily from zero carbon emission sources. Its positioning as a sustainability leader was featured in an in-depth video feature with The Wall Street Journal.
"We applaud The Wall Street Journal's coverage of the important topic of sustainability in bitcoin mining operations, and for highlighting some of our efforts in this regard," said BIT Digital’s CSO Sam Tabar.
As per its Q3 2021 financial results update, Bitfarms Ltd. (NASDAQ:BITF) (TSXV:BITF) grew its Bitcoin mining production by 38% during Q2 2021 from 759 BTC in Q2 2021, while reducing its average cost of BTC production by 23%.
"Bitfarms is building a truly global enterprise by focusing on strategic opportunities to cost effectively leverage our expertise and gain market share," said Emiliano Grodzki, Bitfarms Founder and Chief Executive Officer.
"As of today, we have increased our hashrate to over 2 Exahash per second (EH/s) and expanded our production capacity to 106 Megawatts (MW) in Canada and the U.S., with an additional 298 MW in development underway in Canada, Paraguay and Argentina. We are confident we will create additional shareholder value as we continue our efforts to achieve our computational goals of 3 EH/s by March 31, 2022, and 8 EH/s by December 31, 2022."
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