Foundry fees, mining SPACs, and SBI vs Whinstone
Lots of interesting mining news this week
Words got out this week that FoundryUSA is set to charge tiered fees for its bitcoin mining pool service, according to Bloomberg, which cited a notice the pool sent to customers.
Over the past year, FoundryUSA’s monthly market share by total blocks mined has increased from 16.4% in January 2022 to 32.4% in March 2023, in part thanks to its zero-fee strategy. It’d be interesting to see how the market develops among top pools in the coming months.
In other news, several mining SPAC/reverse-merger deals have made updates recently. Two weeks ago, Bitdeer disclosed financial numbers in a preliminary merger proxy statement. Last week, it filed a definitive merger proxy statement. A shareholder meeting is set for the coming Tuesday to vote on the proposed merger before the eventual listing takes place.
In addition, Rhodium and Griid have released operational data for the full year of 2022 this week for their merger deals to go public. With 3,576 BTC mined last year, Rhodium ranked the 7th largest operation among public peers by bitcoin production. The firm splits its capacities with 50MW at a proprietary site in Texas and 125MW at Riot’s Whinstone colocation facility.
Speaking of Whinstone U.S., it looks like GMO was not the only disgruntled customer at the Texas colocation provider. SBI Crypto, another mining firm that hosted equipment at Whinstone, filed a lawsuit this week accusing the company of breach of contract and fraudulent inducement.
The dispute goes back to 2019: SBI Crypto alleges that Whinstone made misleading and deceitful statements about its facilities when soliciting the hosting business and later provided substandard services. That, according to SBI, resulted in the loss of revenue because Whinstone failed to operate its equipment at full capacity.
Regulation News
Texas Bill Limiting Benefits for Crypto Miners Unanimously Passes Committee Vote - CoinDesk
U.S. Bitcoin Corp. Expected to Settle With City to Resume Mining in Niagara Falls - CoinDesk
North Carolina County Mulls 1-Year Bitcoin Mining Moratorium - Decrypt
Hardware & Infrastructure News
Stronghold no longer considering buying third power plant - Bizjournal
Corporate News
Marathon Digital's CFO to Retire After One Year - CoinDesk
Argo Blockchain Announces Appointment of CFO - Link
Bitcoin Miner Sphere 3D Sues Partner Gryphon Digital - CoinDesk
March 2023 Bitcoin Production Recap - TheMinerMag
Feature
Report Blasts Bitcoin Mining for Pollution—But Bitcoiners Aren’t Buying It – Decrypt
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