Tag: Iris Energy

Bitcoin Miner Iris Energy Signs Share Purchase Agreement with B. Riley

by Blockchain News

Iris Energy, a Bitcoin mining firm based in Australia, has struck a deal to sell $100 million in equity over the next two years to investment bank B. Riley Principal Capital.

According to the U.S. Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) filing shown on Friday, Iris elaborated on how it plans to use the capital raised: “We intend to use any proceeds from the Facility to fund our growth initiatives (including hardware purchases and acquisition and development of data center sites and facilities), and for working capital and general corporate purposes,” the miner stated.

The deal has a 24-month time frame, during which time B. Riley may buy up to 25 million shares in the Bitcoin mining firm. B. Riley may buy up to 25 million of IREN ordinary shares in the next 24 months starting Friday. If the bank chooses to buy all of those shares for about $100 million, it would have a 31% stake in the miner, the filing said.

To satisfy the agreement, the miner issued B. Riley 198,174 ordinary shares of common stock for its commitment to the equity financing facility. Iris Energy stocks were down almost 12% in early trading on Friday.

The move by the Australian-based Bitcoin miner comes at a time when wide market turbulence has adversely impacted miners’ balance sheets. During the recent bear market, many miners took huge loans to fund their operations, which include deals to acquire efficient ASIC mining machines. 

In July, Bitcoin mining firm Core Scientific signed a similar equity-focused deal with B. Riley to enhance its liquidity and expand its strategic optionality amid the ongoing adverse market conditions.

Many miners have been forced to sell a big portion of their mined Bitcoins as the crash in prices, increased competition, and rising energy costs cut their profitability. With the decline of mining profitability, most Bitcoin mining stocks have tumbled 60% or more during the current market rout.

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Iris Energy Raises $71m in Debt Issuance

by Blockchain News

Iris Energy raised $71 million in debt issuance for new Bitcoin mining equipment.

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According to a statement, the Australia-based Bitcoin mining firm won the deal with an NYDIG subsidiary. Iris Energy used 19,800 Bitmain S19j Pro miners to secure the loan. It has a 25-month term and an 11% interest rate.

Previously, Iris Energy had raised over $500 million in funding. While last year the company received $115 million in debt issuance. The company got the fund before upsizing its initial public offering on Nasdaq to $231 million.

The firm is looking to “take advantage of a strong balance sheet” and seek more funding opportunities in the future, the statement added.

“We look forward to formalizing additional loan facilities as miners continue to be delivered and installed,” Daniel Roberts, co-founder and co-CEO of Iris Energy, said in a statement. 

The company owns a large crypto mining centre in upstate New York. It plans to increase its data centre capacity to 4.7 EH/s this year, “with the vast majority of the capacity expansion focused outside of the company’s original site in New York,” according to a statement.

Likewise, Greenidge Generation Holdings secured a similarly structured $100 million financing round to help in enlarging its operations in the U.S., Blockchain.News reported.

The total sum included $81.4 million as a loan from an affiliate of NYDIG and $26.5 million as a promissory note with a cohort of B. Riley Financial, Inc.

Greenidge claims to be the “first and only carbon neutral, vertically integrated power generator and Bitcoin miner of scale in the United States.”

The company owns a large crypto mining centre in upstate New York. It plans to increase its data centre capacity to 4.7 EH/s this year, “with the vast majority of the capacity expansion focused outside of the company’s original site in New York,” according to a statement.

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Crypto founders top young Australian rich list

by Cointelegraph

The AFR’s list contains 87 of Australia’s richest entrepreneurs aged 40 and under, with each boasting a net worth greater than AUD 36 million ($26.9 million).

The list is topped by Melanie Perkins and Cliff Obrecht, the co-founder and chief operating officer (COO) of popular graphic design software providers Canva. The married couple has an estimated net worth of AUD 16.5 ($12.3) billion between them.

Seven crypto luminaires have debuted on the Australian Financial Review’s (AFR) “Young Rich” list of 2021, including the minds behind some of the leading protocols in the decentralized finance (DeFi) and nonfungible token (NFT) sectors.

Synthetix

Kain Warwick, the founder of derivatives trading protocol Synthetix is ranked as the most affluent crypto figure in Australia, coming in at seventh overall with an estimated net worth of AUD 879 million ($657 million).

Kain founded Synthetix in 2017, with the protocol comprising an Ethereum-based decentralized synthetic asset issuance protocol that offers exposure to a wide range of markets such as crypto, stock and commodities via synthetic assets.

Synthetix ranks as the 22nd-largest DeFi protocol with a total value locked (TVL) of $2.2 billion, while its native SNX token comprises the 85th-largest crypto asset with a capitalization of $1.9 billion.

Synthetix has raised a total of AUD 46.1 million ($34.46 million) over six funding rounds. The round included participation from Paradigm, Coinbase Ventures and IOSG Ventures according to Crunchbase.

Illuvium and the Warwick brothers

Kain Warwick is not the only member of the family on the list, with three of his brothers in Aaron, Grant and Keiran also making the list this year.

The three brothers co-founded the upcoming play-to-earn crypto game Illuvium in 2020. Keiran leads the pack with a net worth of AUD 463 million ($346 million) to rank 22nd, while Aaron is close behind at 26th with AUD 425 million, and Grant comes in at 34th with AUD 196 million.

Despite the Illuvium game currently still being in development, ILV has shot up the market cap rankings this year amid meteoric price growth to currently sit at 145th with a capitalization of $721 million.

To date, Illuvium has raised $5 million from a funding round that included participation from Framework Ventures and IOSG Ventures.

Sustainable Bitcoin miners

Brothers Daniel and William Roberts also made the list, with the duo ranking in at 19th with a combined AUD 484 million. The duo founded a sustainable energy-focused Bitcoin (BTC) mining firm dubbed Iris Energy earlier this year. Cointelegraph reported in July the firm was looking to raise $200 million in preparation to go public on the Nasdaq stock exchange.

Last week the firm filed for an initial public offering (IPO) with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to raise up to $100 million. The firm intends to list its shares under the REN ticker later this year.

Related: Aussie firm to launch $100M class action over dodgy QOIN token

Sergienko’s rise to fame

Finally, Sydney-based Sergei Sergienko ranked in at 60th with a net worth of AUD 97 million ($72.5 million) in part due to his work with Chronobank, a blockchain-based firm he founded in 2016 that streamlines recruiting processes and enables workers to get paid in crypto assets.

“The company empowers HR and recruitment professionals with blockchain technology, as well as enabling global freelancers to secure the best jobs and make sure they are paid quickly and fairly,” Chronobank’s website reads.