Weekly Mining Newsletter
Miners in Texas power-off amid a heatwave to help the grid, and a fight looms over New York's mining moratorium.
Highlights of the week
Bitcoin's average hashrate has increased by ~5% in May compared to April. But bitcoin miners' May production updates show some interesting differences. Some companies, like Hut8 or BlocksBridge's clients CleanSpark and Greenidge, managed to maintain a steady production rate despite the competition rise. Others, like Argo and Marathon, experienced a sharper production decline due to various reasons, such as site issues or heatwave in Texas. Still, a few companies improved their productions as they managed to increase their operating computing power. But for what it's worth, bitcoin miners in Texas powered off their machines amid recent heatwave because they signed agreements with the ERCOT to voluntarily send the power back to the grid during a demand peak.
Regulation
Hochul Will Delay Action on a Bill to Ban POW Mining for 2 Years — wskg.org
Gov. Kathy Hochul may wait to decide whether to sign into law a bill that would ban some types of crypto mining in the state for two years.
Lawmaker Who Wrote New York Crypto Mining Bill Explains: ‘It’s Not a Ban' — www.cnbc.com
Assemblymember Anna Kelles spoke to CNBC about her New York mining moratorium bill.
Bitcoin Miners Urge New York’s Governor to Veto Moratorium Passed by the Senate After the New York Senate passed a moratorium on proof-of-work mining, industry advocates have urged Governor Kathy Hochul to veto the bill.
Sweeping US Crypto Legislation Targets Stablecoins, Mining A sweeping bill from a bipartisan Senate duo would buttress rules pertaining to some of the hottest issues facing the crypto industry, including sanctions compliance, stablecoin oversight and energy usage.
Finance
Crypto Miner Hut 8 Bucks Trend by ‘Hodling’ Its Mined Bitcoins The miner also concluded its crypto lending program, bringing all of company bitcoin back into custody.
Crypto Miner Hive Blockchain Selling Ether to Pay for Intel Mining Rigs The miner expects to have a bitcoin-equivalent hashrate of 6.2 exahash per second (EH/s) in the next 12 months.
Hardware
Argo Blockchain to Build Intel-Based Bitcoin Mining Rigs With ePIC Blockchain The partnership is an extension of a 2021 deal in which Argo agreed to buy $8 million worth of ePIC's miners.
Bitcoin Miner Hive Grew Its Hash Rate by 8% In May
Bitcoin miner HIVE grew its hash rate by 8% in May, according to the company's most recent operational update.
Infrastructure
Bitcoin Miners in Texas Have Been Powering Down Amid Heatwave and Record Electricity Demand
High temperatures in Texas this week have led to record-breaking power use levels for the month of June, presenting a test for state's power grid.
Iris Energy Mined 10% More Bitcoin in May Bitcoin miner Iris energy reported an increase of bitcoin mined over the month of May.
Argo May Bitcoin Output Drops 25% From April Amid Teething Problems at Texas Facility Argo said the decline also reflected an increase in mining difficulty on the Bitcoin network.
Marathon Digital Bitcoin Production Weaker Than Hoped in May The company continues to "HODL" all of its mined bitcoin, with 9,941 coins worth $315.1 million on its balance sheet as of June 1.
Crypto Miner Hut 8 Begins Operations at New Canada Location Hut 8 started mining at a new location last week. The company has also released an update about production in May, stating it is still holding on to mined bicoin.
Bitcoin Miner Mawson Exchanges Mining Rigs for Stake in Tasmanian Data Center The move comes as more miners have begun using alternative sources of funds to support their expansion.
General & Features
Fight Looms Over New York’s Bid to Slow Crypto-Mining Boom — www.nytimes.com Crypto interests are lobbying Gov. Kathy Hochul to veto a groundbreaking bill that would temporarily halt new crypto-mining projects at fossil-fuel burning plants.
Ethereum Founder Vitalik Buterin Criticizes New York Bitcoin Mining Moratorium: ‘I Oppose Banning Proof of Work’ — fortune.com
“The government picking and choosing which specific applications are an okay use of electricity or not is a bad idea,” Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said over the weekend.