The publicly traded bitcoin mining company Cleanspark has exercised its option to acquire 100,000 bitcoin mining machines from Bitmain. The firm initially secured the option last year, and the agreement has now been enhanced to include the latest S21 Pro model from Bitmain, which offers 15 joules per terahash (J/T). Bitmain and Cleanspark Seal Deal […]
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Renewable Bitcoin (BTC) mining firm Iris Energy is set to increase its total hash rate to 10 exahashes per second (EH/s) in 2024 by acquiring new Bitmain T21 mining rigs.
The company announced it had acquired an additional 1.6 EH/s of Bitmain T21 miners, set for delivery in the second quarter of 2024. The company currently has 5.6 EH/s of operational capacity as of December 2023.
The newest generation of Chinese manufacturer Bitmain’s mining hardware will also improve the efficiency of Iris’ operations from 29.5 joules per terahash (J/TH) to 24.8 J/TH. Iris invested $22.3 million in the latest order from Bitmain, pricing the hardware at $14 per terahash.
Related: Iris Energy to nearly triple hash rate with estimated 44,000 new BTC miners
Iris expects to bring 1.4EH/s of mining output by powering up a previous order of Bitmain S21 miners in the first quarter. It is also awaiting a different batch of Bitmain T21 miners, increasing its capacity by 1.3 EH/s.
The company also plans to build another 100 MW of data centers at the site, which is made possible by providing an additional 500 MW of power capacity that is already available to the operation.
While Iris has primarily been focused on Bitcoin mining, it has expanded its data center to service the growing demand for generative artificial intelligence computing. Iris invested $10 million in August to purchase 248 state-of-the-art Nvidia H100 GPUs, which are set to be delivered by the end of 2023.
The company currently operates data center facilities in different sites across North America, including Canal Flats, Mackenzie, Prince George in Canada’s British Columbia and its Childress site in Texas.
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Cryptocurrency mining hardware maker Bitmain and bankrupt crypto mining firm Core Scientific have agreed on a combination of equity and cash to finalize the deal on expanding mining facilities.
The deal between the two mining companies will see Bitmain supply 27,000 Bitcoin (BTC) mining rigs for $23 million in cash, along with $53.9 million worth of common stock of the bankrupt firm. Apart from the mining hardware purchase deal, Bitmain and Core Scientific have signed a new hosting arrangement to assist Bitmain’s mining operations.
The deal was finalized in August when a court filing highlighted Bitmain’s plan to sell mining hardware in exchange for cash and equity as part of Core Scientific’s restructuring plan. Apart from Bitmain, the restructuring plan also included Anchorage, BlockFi and Mass Mutual Asset Finance. Apart from Anchorage, all other three firms chose a mix of cash and equity options to settle their claims.
Related: Core Scientific appoints Adam Sullivan as CEO amid restructuring process
The expansion and investment plan by Bitmain will come into force by the fourth quarter of 2023, pending approval from a judge. Once approved, the hardware will potentially add 4.1 exahashes to Core Scientific’s hash rate. The two crypto mining companies have also agreed to work together to upgrade Bitmain’s last-generation miners hosted at Core Scientific’s data centers to further increase the firm’s productivity.
Core Scientific filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December 2022, citing the financial crisis and the declining price of Bitcoin as the key reasons behind its decision. The firm started facing trouble in the weeks leading up to its eventual collapse due to market turmoil.
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