Wu said weekly mining information: 0425-0501

1.

Bitcoin mining company CleanSpark announced that it has raised $35 million in non-dilutive financing from Trinity Capital. The three-year equipment financing agreement between the two parties includes 3,336 new S19j Pro mining machines with an annual interest rate of 9.9%. CleanSpark intends to use the proceeds from the facility for growth capital expenditures.

2.

Huobi Technology announced the official launch of the blockchain storage IPFS infrastructure mining fund, which is only for professional investors. The jointly launched IPFS infrastructure mining fund covers companies that invest in related cryptocurrency mining industry activities and companies that support or cover the related cryptocurrency mining industry ecosystem.

3.

According to tokenview data, the difficulty of Bitcoin mining was raised again at block height 733,824 at 23:20:35 (UTC+8) last night, from 28.22 T to 29.79 T, an increase of 5.53%, setting a new record high. The current Bitcoin network computing power is 222 EH/s.

4.

The Shaanxi Provincial Development and Reform Commission issued a notice on the implementation of differentiated electricity prices for virtual currency "mining": Differential electricity prices will be implemented for virtual currency "mining", and the "eliminated" enterprise electricity price will be implemented, with a surcharge of 1 yuan per kilowatt-hour (tax included). The notice will be implemented from May 1, 2022 and will be valid for two years.

5.

Bitcoin miner Argo Blockchain raised its 2022 hashrate guidance to 5.5 EH/s, an increase of nearly 50% from its previous guidance of 3.7 EH/s, driven primarily by mining equipment using Intel's new chips. CEO Peter Wall said in a statement, "With our mining operations on Helios expected to begin in May and the development of custom mining machines using Intel's next-generation Blockscale ASIC chips, Argo is well positioned to continue to grow and focus on serving our shareholders." (CoinDesk)

6.

Bitcoin mining company Argo Blockchain released its 2021 fiscal year earnings report on Thursday, with revenue growing 291% to $100 million (£74 million) and mining profitability of 84%, up from 41% in 2020. Argo attributed the result to a "significant increase" in hash rate, a "temporary decrease in Bitcoin network difficulty" and a rise in Bitcoin prices in 2021.

In 2021, Argo produced a total of 2,045 bitcoins, a 17% decrease from the previous year, which the company attributed to the halving of block rewards in 2020. As of March 2022, Argo held 2,700 bitcoins, worth $122.9 million. (Proactive Investors)

7.

As the ETH network prepares to switch from PoW to PoS, GPUs are becoming cheaper. Tom's Hardware shows that the price of major GPU models on eBay has fallen by 37% since the Chinese authorities cracked down on cryptocurrency mining again in May 2021. In the first three months of this year, the prices of 10 major GPU models on the online market fell by 7.4%, 9.5% and 12% respectively. (Coindesk)

8.

Since last year, the Development and Reform Bureau of Zhaoqing City, Guangdong Province, has joined hands with many departments to crack down on virtual currency "mining" in the city. At present, the list of virtual currency "mining" pushed by the state and the province has been completely cleared on the spot, and 207 computer mining machines have been investigated and dealt with. Previously, Guangzhou City, Jieyang City, and Huizhou City have all carried out virtual currency "mining" rectification work.

9.

Bitcoin mining companies are further adopting green energy, with the sustainable energy structure of the global Bitcoin mining industry increasing by approximately 59% year-on-year.

The Bitcoin Mining Committee (BMC), a group of 44 bitcoin mining companies that claims to represent 50% of the global bitcoin network, or 100.9 exahashes of hashrate, released a new report on April 25 that includes the findings. The group is led by bitcoin proponent and MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor.

The latest survey of BMC member companies asked how much electricity their companies consume, what proportion of that electricity is generated by hydroelectric, wind, solar, nuclear or geothermal resources, and how much computing power they operate.

BMC estimates that the current sustainable power structure in the global Bitcoin mining industry is 58.4%, down 0.1% from the previous quarter. More importantly, the share of renewable energy has increased significantly from 36.8% in the first quarter of 2021.

However, it is worth noting that the BMC was only established in June 2021, so it is unclear how they calculated the 36.8% renewable energy share in the first quarter of 2021.

Estimates of global Bitcoin mining are based on self-reported data from BMC members showing they use a 64.6% sustainable electricity mix. (Cointelegraph)

10.

Blockmetrix, a Bitcoin mining company headquartered in Dallas, Texas, announced the completion of $20 million in debt financing, with crypto-friendly commercial bank BankProv and digital asset trading platform CrossTower participating in the investment. The new funds will be used to expand its business, including purchasing more mining machines and investing in joint ventures (JVs) to build infrastructure. (CoinDesk)

11.

According to Bitcoin.com, the Russian House of Representatives has submitted the new "Russian Federation Mining Law" to the State Duma, which provides for the creation of a special register for cryptocurrency miners, which will be maintained by authorized federal agencies. Only registered entities and individuals will be allowed to mine, requiring Russian mining facility operators to keep records of minted cryptocurrencies, types, transactions with other entities and currency buyers, exchange operators, payment systems and banks. The Russian parliament is expected to approve the law as well as tax amendments during the spring session.