October Mining News by Wu Shenma releases new mining machine, El Salvador’s first mining pool, Bitmain launches Aleo mining machine, and more.

October Mining Update Wu Shenma Introduces Latest Mining Machine, El Salvador's Maiden Mining Pool, Bitmain's Launch of Aleo Machine, and More

Author | Wu Talks about Blockchain

1. Bitfarms announced that they mined 411 Bitcoin in September 2023, an increase of 7.3% compared to the previous month. Out of those, 362 have been sold, resulting in a total revenue of 9.5 million US dollars. The treasury now holds 703 BTC. They installed 4,600 mining machines in September and increased their capacity to 51 MW in Argentina. They plan to raise it to 11 MW in Quebec by October.

2. Galaxy Digital‘s mining executive Amanda Fabiano has left the company and started a consulting services firm aimed at helping Bitcoin mining companies develop their business. Fabiano stated that she will be working with crypto mining companies ComLianGuaiss Mining and Giga Energy as the first clients of her consulting business. Fabiano worked at Galaxy for three years, establishing the company’s mining business, providing operational and capital market products, and previously served as Bitcoin mining director at Fidelity Investments. (CoinDesk)

3. Volcano Energy announced a new partnership with Luxor Technologies to establish El Salvador’s first Bitcoin mining pool called Lava Pool. The goal of this mining pool is to decentralize Bitcoin mining and take advantage of El Salvador’s “regulatory clarity.” Volcano Energy uses wind and solar energy to build Bitcoin mining facilities, generating 241 MW of renewable energy capacity, some of which will be used for mining Bitcoin and providing cheap electricity to local communities.

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4. In June, Volcano Energy received a $1 billion investment commitment, led by Tether Energy, deploying $250 million for the development of renewable energy and Bitcoin mining operations in the country. 23% of its net income is contributed to the Salvadoran government as part of a public-private partnership program. Volcano Energy is co-led by 23-year-old Bitcoin advocate Josue Lopez from El Salvador and Max Keiser, who serves as chairman and advisor to the President of El Salvador.

5. Iris Energy announced the purchase of 7,000 units of the latest generation Bitmain S21 miners from Bitmain. The miners are expected to be delivered in early 2024, increasing the company’s self-mining capacity from 5.6 EH/s to 7.0 EH/s. A payment of $16.7 million ($11.9/TH) will be made before delivery, and the remaining 15% of the purchase price ($2.9 million at $2.1/TH) will be deferred for one year after delivery.

6. Bitcoin mining companies Marathon, Riot, and CleanSLianGuairk increased their BTC production in September. Marathon Digital produced 1,242 BTC in September, an increase of 16% compared to the previous month. Riot Platforms saw a 9% increase in BTC production, with a total of 362 BTC mined in September. CleanSLianGuairk mined 643 BTC in September, and the CEO of the company stated that the past few months have been the most profitable quarter ever. (Cointelegraph)

7. According to multiple internal employees of Bitmain, on October 3rd, Bitmain issued a notice stating that the company’s cash flow for September did not turn positive, especially due to the significant delay in the deployment of mining machines in the mining farms. As a result, Bitmain has decided to temporarily withhold partial salaries for all employees for September, with the possibility of payment after the October 7th holiday, depending on the situation. Bitmain recently held a conference in Hong Kong and released its latest S21 mining machines.

8. Canadian digital asset mining company Hut 8 has released its mining and operational results for September. They mined 111 bitcoins in September 2023 and did not sell any bitcoins that month. As of September 30th, Hut 8 has a total reserve balance of 9,366 bitcoins, with 7,269 bitcoins in an unspent state.

9. According to the latest equity disclosure data from Futu, as of September 30th, 2023, four new institutional investors have purchased shares of the cryptocurrency mining service provider Bitdeer (Nasdaq: BTDR). These investors include Invesco Capital Management, Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association-College Retirement Equities Fund (TIAA), Exchange Traded Concepts (ETC), and BetaShares Capital Limited. Invesco, an independent investment management company, purchased 20,380 shares of Bitdeer. TIAA, a leading financial retirement services provider in the academic, research, medical, cultural, and governmental fields, currently holds 22,100 shares. ETC, a global pioneer in white-label ETFs, acquired 290,730 shares. Another Australian ETF provider, BetaShares, currently holds 178,360 shares of Bitdeer.

10. US-listed Bitcoin mining company CleanSLianGuairk has announced the purchase of 4.4 EH/s of the latest S21 Antminer from Bitmain, with delivery set to begin in January 2024. The purchase conditions include seller financing of 20% of the total purchase price (approximately $12.35 million or $2.80 per T), which does not need to be repaid within 365 days after the machine’s delivery.

11. J.P. Morgan analyst Reginald Smith has given a sell rating to Bitcoin mining companies Riot Platforms (RIOT) and Marathon Digital Holdings (MARA), while giving a buy rating to CleanSLianGuairk (CLSK), stating that it is his top pick among mining companies. This buy rating aligns with the SA Quant system rating and the average rating of Wall Street analysts, all of which are “strong buy.”

12, Cryptocurrency mining company Stronghold announced its operations and financial performance for September. They mined 196 bitcoins, generating about $200,000 in energy revenue. In September, the Scrubgrass power plant experienced an unexpected power outage, affecting both the power plant and data center operations. Once the data center resumed operations, the monthly hash rate reached about 3.5 EH/s, the highest in the company’s history.

Stronghold expects Bitcoin production for October 2023 to be between 205 and 215 bitcoins. They also anticipate a growth of over 20% in the average hash rate for the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to the third quarter. The company has signed a hosting service agreement with Bitcoin mining data center management company Frontier to optimize data center operations.

13, On October 16th, the Pennsylvania House Committee on Environmental Resources and Energy passed the “Cryptocurrency Energy Saving Act” by a narrow margin. The act removes the two-year ban on cryptocurrency mining and now only requires cryptocurrency mining companies to report their activities and guides the Environmental Protection Agency to study the industry. (Cointelegraph)

14, Cryptocurrency mining company Marathon Digital will be using Fidelity Digital Assets to custodian a portion of their digital assets and will be adding a second custodial partner for diversification. As of September 30th, Marathon Digital owns 13,726 bitcoins and produces over 1,000 bitcoins per month. Prior to this decision, several custodial institutions, including Fortress Trust, have been targeted by hackers attempting to steal some of the digital assets. (CoinDesk)

15, The official account of Bitmain announced plans to launch Aleo Antminer. The article states that the Aleo project extensively utilizes Zero-Knowledge Proof (ZKP) technology to build a blockchain network that combines decentralization, scalability, and privacy protection. Through the ZKP programming language Leo, Aleo is the first blockchain privacy network that offers a full-stack programmable infrastructure, allowing users to freely build privacy applications on the Aleo network.

16, Cryptocurrency mining company Bit Digital (BTBT) is expanding into the AI infrastructure business, offering a minimum of 1,024 and up to 4,096 GPUs for lease to undisclosed clients. Starting from January 2024, this transaction is expected to generate annual revenue of at least $23 to $27 million. If extended to three years and utilizing the maximum number of GPUs, it could potentially generate over $250 million in revenue. In order to facilitate this transaction, Bit Digital will purchase 132 FusionOne HPC servers from global digital infrastructure and services provider xFusion Digital Technologies for approximately $35 million. Each server will include Nvidia’s HGX H100 with 8 GPUs, totaling 1,056 GPUs, and is expected to be delivered by the end of the year. Bit Digital reported revenue of approximately $9 million in the second quarter and $32 million for the 2022 fiscal year. (CoinDesk)

17 – Bitcoin mining company Crusoe Energy announced that its cloud business will expand significantly, with additional computing power already online and additional financing secured specifically for the purchase of graphic processing units (GPUs). The new computing power includes NVIDIA H100 and A100 Tensor Core GPUs to support high-performance demands of artificial intelligence (AI). In order to support continued growth and additional computing power in the coming months, Crusoe announced a $200 million financing commitment from investment company Upper90. Additional GPU computing power is expected to be available to customers in the first quarter of 2024.

18 – Shenma Mining released its latest mining machines: M60 150-172T, 19.9J/T; M63 water-cooled 334-366T, 19.9J/T; M66 240-276T, 19.9J/T; M60S 170-186T, 18.5J/T; M63S water-cooled 360-390T, 18.5J/T; M66S 270-298T, 18.5J/T. It is worth noting that Shenma Mining’s founder, Yang Zuoxiang, who has been caught up in various rumors, personally announced this at a conference in Dubai.

19 – Bitmain released the new T21 Antminer, with a hashrate of 190T and an energy efficiency ratio of 19J/T. T21 is expected to be shipped in the first quarter of 2024. T21 is similar in size and weight to the S21 air-cooled miner. In addition, the company has also launched an optional Bitcoin volatility protection plan, where customers can choose to receive cash compensation if the Bitcoin price falls below the exercise price during the protection period.

20 – Bitcoin mining company Marathon Digital has submitted a FORM S-3 form to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), planning to raise up to $750 million through a mixed equity offering. Marathon Digital stated that it may from time to time, in one or more offerings, sell common stock, preferred stock, warrants, units, or combinations thereof at prices and terms determined at each offering to raise up to an initial aggregate offering price of $750 million.

21 – Hashrateindex studied the profitability of the latest Antminer S21 produced by Bitmain. According to data from October 25th, the daily income after deducting electricity costs for the air-cooled version is about $7.43, with an annual income of about $2,713; the water-cooled version has a daily income of about $17.34, with an annual income of about $6,328. This means the payback period is approximately one to one and a half years. However, it is worth noting that with the increase and halving of hashrate, income may experience a sharp decline.

22 – Some opinions point out that although Bitcoin ETFs may seem promising, they may also divert funds that investors have so far considered as the secondary stock (mainly Bitcoin mining companies). Analysts at JPMorgan state that the two biggest Bitcoin mining companies, Marathon Digital and Riot Platforms, are potentially less attractive compared to ETFs as indirect Bitcoin investments. Mining companies have been used in recent years as proxies for gaining Bitcoin exposure in the public markets, and Bitcoin spot ETFs may be a more direct and cost-effective way. (Decrypt)

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