Weekly Mining Newsletter
Riot's $9.5M power credits, bitcoin's mining difficulty goes up, and busy earnings weeks ahead.
Highlights of the week
As we mentioned in last week's issue, bitcoin's hashrate has gone up as miners in Texas have resumed operations after curtailment since early July. That resulted in the mining difficulty increase after three downward adjustments in a row.
Because of the curtailment participation, Riot Blockchain said it earned about $9.5 million in power credits that can be used against an energy invoice in the future. That's worth more than half of Riot's direct production costs in Q1, which was ~$19 million.
Next week will be busy with many public miners scheduling Q2 earnings calls and financial report releases. We did an estimation of their self-mining production costs in Q1 based on their income statements. We all know energy rates for bitcoin miners have gone up so it'll be interesting to see how much exactly the cost spike was in Q2.
Regulation
Paraguay's Electricity Authority Requests Higher Rates for Crypto Miners, Partial Veto of Mining Legislation — www.coindesk.com The legislature last month approved a bill regulating crypto mining and trading in the country.
Crypto Miners Would Get Tax Reporting Reprieve in Senate Bill
Crypto miners and software developers hoping to avoid new Internal Revenue Service reporting rules are getting help from a group of key senators.
Hardware
As the Ethereum Merge Approaches, a Key Miner Is Pushing a Proof-of-Work Fork — www.theblock.co The Ethereum community faces the possibility of a miner-led fork that will split the network as it transitions to proof-of-stake.
Iris Energy Increases 2022 Miner Deliveries From 4.3 EH/s to 6.0 EH/s
The company has reached agreement with Bitmain to ship an additional 1.7 EH/s of contracted S19j Pro miners in August 2022.
Innosilicon Releases Firmware for ETH Asic Miner A10 Pro, Supporting Algorithm Change to Etchash
The ASIC mining chip manufacturer said the firmware development for A11 Pro is also underway, aiming to provide customers an option in a post Ethereum Merge scenario.
Finance
Bitcoin Miner Made Millions in Credits by Shutting Rigs During Texas Heat — www.bloomberg.com Riot Blockchain Inc. earned about $9.5 million in credits last month from shutting down its Bitcoin mining rigs at a Texas facility while the region weathered a historic heatwave.
Marathon Doubles Loan Borrowing Capacity to $200M as Mining Rigs Sit Idle — www.coindesk.com The firm doubled its credit from Silvergate Bank even as Marathon's operations are facing severe downtime and delays.
Niagara Falls’ Blockfusion Raised $2.6M From Investors Earlier This Year
Blockfusion acquired a derelict coal factory on Buffalo Avenue in 2019 and established a blockchain mining facility there. It has now invested more than $25 million into the Niagara Falls operation.
Infrastructure
Bitcoin Miner Digihost to Transfer Part of New York Hardware Fleet to Alabama Site — www.theblock.co Bitcoin miner Digihost is moving part of its fleet to a new 55-megawatt site in Alabama, which just started construction.
Bitcoin Miner SAI.TECH Halts Kazakhstan Expansion, Citing Operation and Cost Uncertainties The Nasdaq-listed company has scrapped plans for a second phase of power supply cooperation in the central Asian country.
Blockware Mining Opens Flagship Bitcoin Mining Facility in Paducah, Kentucky
Blockware Mining announced the official opening of its flagship facility in Paducah, KY. Energized in February, the 30MW facility has capacity to host up to 100MW of mining power to facilitate the company's continued expansion.
General & Features
The Rise and Fall of a Bitcoin Mining Sensation — www.wired.co.uk
Compass Mining grew quickly during crypto's halcyon days. Now, its customers and their thousands of mining machines are stuck.
To Unplug or Double Down? Crypto Mining in Crypto Winter — www.coindesk.com Tough market conditions are forcing miners to make tough decisions. Jeff Wilser checks in with Econoalchemist, a longtime pseudonymous miner.
What Bitcoin Miners Are Doing To Survive the Bear Market The Bitcoin market downturn has halted construction, dropped the price of mining rigs and created opportunities for a few companies.