Tag: Compute North

Generate Capital to Purchase Bankrupt Compute North’s Assets in 2 Mining Sites

by Blockchain News

According to bankruptcy filings on Tuesday, lending firm Generate Capital is purchasing Bitcoin mining hosting firm Compute North’s stake in two mega-mining facilities (a 300-megawatt (MW) facility in Wolf Hollow, Texas, and a 100 MW one in Kearny, Nebraska) for $5 million.

A U.S. Bankruptcy judge in the Southern District of Texas signed the order approving the sale of Compute North’s stake in the two mining facilities.

According to the purchase agreement, Generate Capital was the only bidder for Compute North’s equity, and the court approved the sale on Tuesday.

As part of the sale, Generate Capital is fully purchasing Compute North’s sites for $5 million and will assume the liabilities as well as obligations to clients that host their machines at the sites.

In late September, Compute North became the latest casualty of the bear market and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, saying it can’t fulfil debt obligations worth up to $500 million.

In its bankruptcy filing, Compute North blamed its financial woes on this year’s bear market, the rising cost of electricity in the U.S. and the time it takes between constructing two new data centres and becoming profitable.

The biggest blow came from a loan that the Bitcoin miner secured from Generate Capital. In February, Generate Capital lent Compute North $300 million to finance the development of the two sites in Texas and Nebraska.

While Compute North was able to repay some of the funds, about a third of it was still outstanding as it defaulted payments.

In July, in bids to recover its money, Generate Capital took over some of Compute North’s assets, including two of the sites that its finance had gone towards construction purposes.

Generate Capital’s move to take control of Compute North assets triggered the Bitcoin miner’s chapter 11 bankruptcy in late September.

The Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing protected the Bitcoin miner from its creditors while allowing it to continue operations. This has given it enough breathing space to figure out a way to repay its creditors without having to be auctioned off.

Image source: Shutterstock

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Marathon Reveals Over $80m Exposure to Bankrupt Crypto Miner Compute North

by Blockchain News

Marathon Digital Holdings Inc., on Thursday, revealed that it has over $80 million of exposure to crypto mining data centre firm Compute North Holdings Inc, which filed for bankruptcy protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern last month District of Texas.

According to an official statement, Marathon has about $10 million invested in the convertible preferred stock of Compute North and $21.3 million related to an unsecured senior promissory note with the company.

Marathon, which had entered into an agreement to use Compute North’s data centres to park its computers for mining purposes, said it also paid the company about $50 million in operating deposits. Such deposits were mainly related to security deposits and prepayments associated with the operation of Compute North’s King Mountain and Wolf Hollow mining facilities in Texas, Marathon stated.

Marathon also installed 40,000 mining rigs in Compute North’s wind-powered McCamey, Texas, according to the company’s second-quarter earnings. Marathon said it started expanding its hosting arrangements with Compute North during the second quarter of this year.

Last month, Compute North became the latest casualty of the bear market when it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S court. In its bankruptcy filing, the miner blamed its woes on supply issues, troubles with its largest lender, this year’s bear market, the rising cost of electricity in the U.S., and the amount of time it takes between the construction of its new data centre, and it’s becoming profitable.

Marathon is one of Compute North’s largest clients, placing its heavy-duty computers, known as miners, in Compute North’s data centres for a fee to do Bitcoin mining.

The biggest blow hitting Compute North came from a loan that the firm secured from Generate Lending LLC, a California-based speciality finance company.

In February 2022, Generate offered a loan worth $300 million to Compute North to finance upcoming projects in Texas and Nebraska. While the miner was able to repay some of the funds, about a third of it is still outstanding.

As part of efforts to recover its money, Generate took over some of Compute North’s assets, including two of the sites where its capital was channelled to do construction. Generate also ceased funding the other sites that Compute North was constructing, which the miner hoped would generate sufficient profits to repay the lender’s loan.

Compute North currently owes about $500 million to Generate Lending LLC. and 200 other creditors. The company’s bankruptcy filing is the latest indication of difficulties facing Bitcoin miners, triggered by the ongoing bear market.

Image source: Shutterstock

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Compute North And Atlas Mining Partner Up To Expand Their US Operations

by Bitcoin Magazine

Two giants of the bitcoin mining world — Atlas Technologies and Compute North — are partnering up to take advantage of an unprecedented time to expand their US operations just as interest in US mining is at an all-time high.

Serious chip shortages and backed-up supply lines resulting in equipment shortages are giving companies with ASICs like Atlas Technologies a step up in negotiating new infrastructure space.

Atlas Technology Group, a multi-purpose data technology and mining company is adding 100 MW power generated by the latest model ASICs to Compute North’s US facilities with miners ready to go online starting Q1 of next year.

Once all miners are online, Atlas expects the new rigs to be producing approximately 3.7 EH/s (exahashes per second).

Atlas Mining

Based in Singapore, Atlas mining is one of the largest players in Bitcoin with operations in North America and Central Asia and “offers a broad range of value-added services including mining, high-performance computing, hosting, and cloud services…one of the largest and most efficient service providers in data computing and storage,” according to its website.

Going forward, Atlas is hoping to expand its mining operations around the globe, including in Northern Europe, South America, and Africa. In the announcement today, Atlas Chair Raymond Yuan said:

“We are pleased to name Compute North as our trusted hosting provider and are committed to building a strong, long-term relationship. Atlas operates its mining business globally and highly values the partnership with local companies, like Compute North, who share our vision for sustainability and environmental responsibility.”

Compute North

Compute North, a data center and bitcoin mining giant headquartered in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, has mining facilities in Big Spring, Texas; Kearney, Nebraska; and North Sioux City, South Dakota.

The company uses a data center design that lets it control the amount of power at each of its facilities as needed so it can offer more stability as local power grids onboard more renewable energy.

“We’re proud that Compute North’s focus on sustainable mining solutions factored into Atlas Mining’s decision to partner with us for its upcoming U.S. deployment,” said Dave Perrill, CEO of Compute North in the announcement today.

“Our pioneering TIER 0™ data center design creates significant cost efficiencies and establishes us as a critical partner to the overall stability of local power grids as they bring more renewables online,” he added.

Focus On Green Mining

Atlas is committed to achieving sustainable growth and using only environmentally friendly power in its mining operations.

In the announcement today, the company said it is carrying out “a mass adoption of renewable energy, with a long-term goal to be 100% carbon-free”.

Atlas’s Yuan said:

“Green mining and global operations are two key trends in the ASIC-mining industry. As we expand our business, we are keen to further adopt renewable energy and explore technologies that can improve operational efficiency. Advances in emerging cooling technology will improve the PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness) of the whole industry, and Atlas wants to lead the way.”

Compute North uses a variety of energy sources in its three locations, mostly through what’s available on the local grid. The majority of electricity produced in South Dakota comes from hydroelectric power, while Nebraska and Texas use a mix including wind power, solar, and natural gas.

“Most of our facilities are connected to the power grid… the nature of our power usage (load) on the grid allows us to serve as a strategic partner to grid operators with our ability to curtail our power use in order to help stabilize the grid,” Perrill told Bitcoin Magazine in a recent interview. “With the increase in renewable energy as a percentage of overall power production, these intermittent power sources are creating additional challenges to the overall grid infrastructure. We serve an important role in providing a low-cost compute environment for our customers, while also filling a very important need for grid operators.”

According to the announcement today, Atlas has purchased more than 200,000 units of the most advanced mining rigs to date and aims to continue this trend over the next few years. The firm has contracted more than 400MW infrastructure capacity with local partners in different regions and plans to add 1GW capacity in the following 18 months.

This latest expansion comes only weeks after Atlas selected Core Scientific to host bitcoin miners that will require more than 100 MW of power when fully implemented.

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Compute North To Host 70,000 Marathon Bitcoin Miners At Texas Data Center

by Bitcoin Magazine

Marathon Digital holdings will house 73,000 mining rigs at a Compute North data center being built in Texas.

A press release issued today by Marathon Digital Holdings, Inc. has indicated that the company will house roughly 73,000 of its bitcoin mining rigs at a new 300 megawatt Compute North data center being built in Texas.

The release also noted that Marathon’s hash rate is expected to reach 10.37 exahashes per second, its average mining costs will be $0.0453 per kilowatt hour and its operations will be approximately 70% carbon neutral.

“Under the terms of the agreement and based on specified requirements being met, Marathon will provide Compute North with an 18-month bridge loan of up to $67 million, in tranches, to construct the facility,” per the release. “The initial term of the contract is three years with increases capped at 3% per year thereafter.”

Marathon said in the release that this development will help establish the firm as the largest, most efficient and most environmentally-conscious Bitcoin miner in North America.

“Compute North is a long-term partner of ours, and by expanding our working relationship with them through this new agreement, we have now secured economical hosting arrangements for all 103,120 of our previously purchased Bitcoin miners,” said Fred Thiel, Marathon’s CEO, per the release.

Michael Saylor, CEO of MicroStrategy and a significant Bitcoin influencer, commented on the announcement via Twitter, highlighting the environmental implications.

“Marathon is acting decisively to expand its U.S.-based mining capacity in a carbon neutral fashion,” he wrote. “Publicly-traded Bitcoin miners like $MARA are going to drive standards of excellence for other miners around the world and lead the way on ESG initiatives.”

Earlier this year, Compute North forged an agreement to host Bit Digital bitcoin miners. And Marathon elicited controversy from the Bitcoin community by effectively censoring Bitcoin blocks and mining an Office of Foreign Asset Control- (OFAC) compliant block.

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Bit Digital, Compute North Partner To Drive Sustainable Bitcoin Mining

by Bitcoin Magazine

Bit Digital, one of the largest bitcoin mining companies in North America by hash rate, is expanding its operations by colocating in Compute North facilities, adding an additional 40 megawatts of hashing power with 13,000 new ASIC miners to its arsenal, according to a press release.

Nasdaq-listed Bit Digital (BTBT), headquartered in New York, positioned the partnership as one that ups its ability to meet increasing demand from investors for sustainable bitcoin mining.

“The move accelerates Bit Digital’s expansion strategy in North America, and highlights its focus on sustainability,” per the release.

Compute North, a data center and bitcoin mining giant headquartered in Minnesota, with operations in Texas, South Dakota, and Nebraska, recently expanded with the help of Foundry Digital. It uses a data center design that lets it throttle power demand at each of its facilities as needed so it can offer better stability as local power grids onboard more renewable energy sources.

“Compute North serves an important role in providing low-cost computing for customers like Bit Digital, while filling an important need for our energy partners,” said Compute North founder and chairman PJ Lee in the release.

Compute North’s (and now Bit Digital’s) approach is to establish a facility that serves as a counterpart to renewable energy use. If wind or solar are not available, the company can switch to other power sources.During the recent ice storms in Texas, for instance, some miners were able to send energy directly to the grid to compensate for damage to wind and solar installations.

Bit Digital is seeing a sea change coming to the mining industry as investment firms set up committees to vet for sustainability and companies like Square promote and support miners in integrating green energy technologies.

“On the energy supply side, we are evaluating new renewable sources to complement our existing renewables-based mining,” Bit Digital CEO Bryan Bullett said in the release. “On the demand side, we are embracing demand response programs like Compute North’s. We refer to this as ‘Mining 2.0’ – a multi-pronged strategy to activate our ability to dynamically manage power usage, both to manage costs, and to accelerate adoption of renewable energy sources for mining, and for the grid generally.”

The amalgamation of Bit Digital and Compute North’s mining equipment is expected to be completed this summer.

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Compute North Raises $25 Million To Expand Bitcoin Mining Operations

by Bitcoin Magazine

Compute North, one of the fastest-growing bitcoin mining companies in North America, has announced the close of a growth capital round that netted $25 million in debt financing and equity, which it will use to expand its operations in light of ongoing demand for its data and colocation services.

The debt capital was raised as a senior secured loan via investment firm Post Road Group, according to a press release shared with Bitcoin Magazine. With this new capital funding, the company hopes to double its current 920 peta hashes per second (PH/s) hash rate to 1,840 PH/s, per the release.

Last month, through its partnership with Foundry Digital, Compute North secured the chance to add 47 megawatts of computing power to its mining operations with the acquisition of 14,000 new Whatsminer M30S rigs from MicroBT. 

“We started Compute North because we saw a unique opportunity to bring together our data center and power expertise and offer our customers a better alternative,” CEO Dave Perrill said in the release. “This injection of capital allows the company to meet customer demand, innovate our services and expand our great team.”

Based in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, Compute North has data and mining facilities in Big Spring, Texas; Kearney, Nebraska; and North Sioux City, South Dakota. It represents one of the primary ventures that is bringing more bitcoin mining capacity out of its geographical center of China.

The company helped pioneer the TIER 0 data center model, the release noted, which allows for data to be moved at the fastest speed and most efficient rate, outdistancing other tiers of data processing.

Stabilizing The Energy Grid

In addition to decentralizing the share of bitcoin mining hash rate to a new region of the world, Compute North sees itself as helping to solve local energy challenges in the areas where it operates.

Compute North uses a variety of energy sources in its three locations, mostly through what’s available on the local grid. The majority of electricity produced in South Dakota comes from hydroelectric power, while Nebraska and Texas use a mix of wind power, natural gas and coal.

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“Most of our facilities are connected to the power grid… the nature of our power usage (load) on the grid allows us to serve as a strategic partner to grid operators with our ability to curtail our power use in order to help stabilize the grid,” Perrill told Bitcoin Magazine in a followup interview. “With the increase in renewable energy as a percentage of overall power production, these intermittent power sources are creating additional challenges to the overall grid infrastructure. We serve an important role in providing a low-cost compute environment for our customers, while also filling a very important need for grid operators.”

Ongoing Demand

With the accelerating interest in the bitcoin mining space — particularly among institutional investors — showing no signs of slowing down, Compute North will be continuing to raise capital for the foreseeable future.

“With Biden winning the election and his economic team assembled, the Federal Reserve will continue to print even more money to stimulate the economy and keep his campaign promise,” Perrill told Bitcoin Magazine recently. “Increased inflation will continue the acceleration of the dollar decline, encouraging smart money to move to digital currencies.”

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Compute North, Foundry Digital Partner To Bring More Bitcoin Mining To North America

by Bitcoin Magazine

Compute North, one of the largest bitcoin mining companies in North America with mining farms in Big Spring, Texas; Kearney, Nebraska; and North Sioux City, South Dakota, is taking a great leap forward through a new partnership with financial services firm Foundry Digital, a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group based in Rochester, New York.

Through the partnership, Foundry will supply 14,000 new Whatsminer M30S mining rigs from MicroBT to be hosted at Compute North’s North American colocation facilities. Compute North will commit 47 megawatts of power to these rigs beginning in the first quarter of this year. The goal is to provide an avenue for Bitcoin mining investment for more North American businesses.

“After the first batch of procured devices comes online, most of the devices will be available for purchase,” per a press release shared with Bitcoin Magazine. “Investors can either purchase the operating devices directly from Compute North or finance them through Foundry with a down payment at a fraction of the device cost, and get the mining machines running at Compute North’s enterprise-class facilities almost instantly after purchase.”

As the price of bitcoin continues to reach all-time highs, there is pressure on ASIC foundries and equipment manufacturers to try and meet the demand from both newly-interested customers and older mining companies that need to upgrade to remain competitive. Estimated wait times for new mining equipment are at least six months, with leading manufacturers like Bitmain sold out until August 2021.

This partnership could help interested parties realize gains from bitcoin mining more quickly.

“Investors from publicly-traded companies to family offices and more are perking up and realizing that there is money to be made in digital currencies,” Dave Perrill, the CEO of Compute North, told Bitcoin Magazine. “It has been a smaller asset class but continues to build momentum as they see the opportunity to diversify a slice of their assets in this alternative investment strategy.”

The New Face Of Mining In North America 

The partnership between Compute North and Foundry is part of a growing trend in Bitcoin mining, particularly in North America.

Financial and advisory companies like Foundry, BitOoda and Galaxy Digital are becoming main players in helping institutions with their financing, staking and operating new mining sites.

See Also

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Mining is also coming into the purview of bigger institutions as institutional investors also become main players in larger and more sophisticated mining operations.

“Another driver for diversification with cryptocurrency is a result of the recent economic challenges and election results,” noted Perrill. “With Biden winning the election and his economic team assembled, the Federal Reserve will continue to print even more money to stimulate the economy and keep his campaign promise. Increased inflation will continue the acceleration of the dollar decline, encouraging smart money to move to digital currencies.”

Foundry And MicroBT

In September 2020, Foundry negotiated a partnership with equipment manufacturer MicroBT in order to gain priority access for North American institutional buyers to new M30Ss as they came off the production line. (MicroBT is gaining ground as a leading ASIC manufacturer, although Beijing-based Bitmain is still the number-one manufacturer of mining equipment. According to CoinDesk, MicroBT sold 600,000 Whatsminer units, worth more than $500 million in 2019.)

As part of its partnership with Foundry, MicroBT set up shop in a country in Southeast Asia to act as a supplier and avoid the U.S. tariff of 25 percent on equipment imported from China. Bitmain also avoids U.S. tariffs by using a production facility in Malaysia.

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