Wu said weekly mining information: 0307-0312

1.

HIVE announced a supply agreement with Intel to purchase new high-performance ASIC chips, and also signed a manufacturing agreement with an ODM to integrate Intel's chips into air-cooled Bitcoin mining machines. These mining machines are expected to start delivery in the second half of 2022, with a total computing power of approximately 1.8 EH/s, and are expected to exceed 10,000 mining machines. HIVE also announced the deployment of a 100-megawatt mining farm at one of Compute North's renewable energy parks in Texas.

2.

Crypto mining company ArgoBlockchain said on social media that it mined crypto assets equivalent to 135 BTC (about 5.83 million US dollars) in February, which was a decrease from January, mainly due to the increase in the computing power of the entire network and the reduction of equipment due to climate reasons. As of the end of the month, the company held a total of 2,748 BTC and other crypto assets equivalent to 262 BTC. In addition, the company has signed an order for ASIC chip mining machines with Intel, which is expected to be delivered in the second half of the year. The specific details will be disclosed in the next few months.

3.

According to TheBlock Research, the total computing power of Bitcoin mining companies that have voluntarily disclosed in North America has reached 43 EH/s, accounting for about 22% of the total network computing power.

4.

Hashrate Index: Prices of all efficiency tiers have fallen for six consecutive weeks, and the monthly average price of popular models has been on a downward trend since November 2021. In January. Prices of mid-range miners (38-68 J/TH) fell 16% this month, while new generation machines (below 38 J/TH) fell 7%. With newer, more advanced machines launched by Bitmain and Intel this year, miners are prioritizing the latest and most efficient equipment, and older machine stocks will be replaced.

5.

Core Scientific (CORZ), the largest publicly traded Bitcoin mining company in North America, plans to reach 40 EH/s-42 EH/s by the end of this year to consolidate its leading position. The company said in an announcement on Monday that the computing power will be roughly evenly distributed between self-mining and hosting businesses. Core Scientific said its construction and power teams are expected to achieve 1.2 GW-1.3 GW of operating infrastructure by the end of the year.

Mike Levitt, CEO of Core Scientific, said, “In 2021, we operated data centers in four states with a total mining capacity of 13.5 EH/s. Two months later, we are operating in five states and considering the sixth state, which has increased our computing power to 15.9 EH/s.”

The company also announced preliminary revenue of $515 million to $545 million for 2021, compared with a FactSet analyst estimate of $469.9 million. Preliminary adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of $225 million to $235 million, compared with a consensus analyst estimate of $205.5 million. The company's shares rose 3.6% on Monday.

Core Scientific's self-mining business mined 981 bitcoins in February, an average of 35 bitcoins per day, a slight increase from the average of 34.7 per day in January, and a year-on-year increase of 313%. As of February 28, 2022, the company holds 7,355 bitcoins it has mined. (CoinDesk)

6.

Bitcoin mining company BitNile (NILE) plans to increase the power capacity of its Michigan data center to 300MW, and has signed a purchase agreement with Bitmain for more than 18,000 mining equipment. The delivery will start in December and is expected to take about 18-24 months, thereby expanding the company's mining capacity to 12 EH/s. (Businesswire)

7.

Dallas-based Bitcoin mining company Blockmetrix announced the completion of a $43 million Series B financing, bringing the total financing to $50 million since June 2021. Blockmetrix said that after completing a $7 million Series A financing last year, it has 1,000 mining machines in operation. The latest round of financing was oversubscribed, with investors from the United States, Australia and several Asian countries.

Nevin Bannister, CEO and co-founder of Blockmetrix, said the company plans to achieve rapid growth by using the maximum available capital and debt to purchase mining machines while controlling electricity costs through various joint ventures. He said: "Through (the joint venture), we will obtain partial ownership of a co-located facility to ensure low electricity prices and provide a location for our Bitcoin mining machines." Bannister explained that the company's joint venture partners will be responsible for developing and operating the facility, which will help to directly use most of the funds to increase computing power rather than building infrastructure.

Bannister also said Blockmetrix is ​​currently negotiating a joint venture agreement that would secure a 100-megawatt co-located facility in Texas, with the potential to expand to 200 megawatts. (CoinDesk)

8.

Agora Digital Holdings, owner of U.S. crypto mining company Bitstream Mining, plans to list on the Nasdaq, according to an IPO prospectus filed with the U.S. SEC on Wednesday.

Agora, which trades under the ticker DEFY, expects total shareholder equity of $53 million, but has not yet announced a share price. The prospectus shows that Agora booked a loss of $3.3 million in the nine months ended December 31, 2021. The company's listing and stock offering are still subject to regulatory approval.

According to documents filed today, Agora has invested $7.2 million to build the Bitstream business, including the purchase of 5,000 second-hand Canaan AvalonMiner 841 mining machines for $1.35 million. According to a document filed with the U.S. SEC in September 2021, about $2.4 million of this was paid to an electricity management company, including a down payment to an energy supplier. The company has agreed to invest another $6 million to purchase energy, order mining machines and develop mining infrastructure. (CoinDesk)

9.

Iran has announced the approval of crypto mining, but only under strict conditions. According to the Iranian Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade (MIMT), new licenses will only be issued to mines powered by renewable energy. The ministry said the only way to prevent illegal mining operations is to provide energy from other sources and make those sources legal. But it did not mention what those sources are. Earlier in December, Iran announced a ban on crypto mining until March 6, 2022 to save electricity. (Be in Crypto)

10.

IntoTheBlock data shows that the number of bitcoins held by miners has reached a 10-year low of about 1.9 million. During the bull run in the crypto market, the balance of bitcoins held by miners gradually increased, and the intensification of the downward trend began at the end of November last year. In addition, BTC's hash rate has also reached a near-record level. These pressures on miners' profit margins have caused miners to sell part of their holdings to pay for operating expenses.

11.

Venezuela's Supreme Court recently said that the mission developed by Sunacrip, the national cryptocurrency and Bitcoin mining regulator, is of strategic importance to the country. The ruling announced that Bitcoin miners must comply with certain conditions in order to carry out these activities on Venezuelan territory. The ruling also overturned certain decisions in a case in which another court revoked the seizure of more than 1,000 Bitcoin mining machines. (Bitcoin.com)

12.

The VanEck Cryptocurrency Mining ETF (DAM) opened on March 9, providing directional investment for companies in the crypto asset mining industry. The exchange-traded fund will invest at least 80% of its total assets in securities of cryptocurrency miners that generate or have the potential to derive at least 50% of their revenue from mining activities or related technologies. The fund will track the MVIS Digital Asset Mining Index and has a net expense ratio of 0.5%. The fund's major holdings include miners, mining manufacturing companies, mining manufacturers, and a blockchain-focused bank. The largest weight is Riot Blockchain, accounting for about 11%. (Coindesk)

13.

On March 14, the latest draft of the legislative framework for managing virtual currencies proposed by the European Union (EU), the Crypto Asset Market (MiCA), will be voted on. The previous ban on crypto services with environmentally unsustainable consensus mechanisms starting in January 2025 has been deleted and changed to "minimum environmental sustainability standards should be observed in the consensus mechanisms used to verify transactions." According to the regulations, if the proof-of-work consensus mechanism operates on a small scale, it does not need to meet sustainability standards. (CoinDesk)

14.

The Innovation Competition of the Fujian Digital China Summit Organizing Committee released a sub-track on energy big data - virtual currency "mining" behavior identification test. The question-setting unit is State Grid Fujian Electric Power Co., Ltd. The task is: given the characteristic data of holiday electricity consumption, monthly electricity consumption, etc. of enterprises in a certain region in the past two years, it is required to build relevant algorithm models based on the data provided by the samples, and identify and screen out users suspected of virtual currency "mining" behavior among the sample users; the prize is 160,000 yuan.

15.

According to the Shanghai Securities News, the Guangzhou Development and Reform Commission recently organized the first on-site rectification operation of virtual currency "mining" in Guangzhou, successfully shutting down a virtual currency mine hidden in an electric vehicle charging station, and seized more than 190 virtual currency "mining" professional mining machines on site, with a value of more than 5 million yuan. In addition, on February 26, Jieyang City seized 916 "mining machines" in its crackdown on virtual currency "mining" activities.