Bitcoin Miner Bitfarms Starts Production in Argentina

Bitfarms Ltd, a Bitcoin mining company, headquartered in Quebec, Canada, announced on Monday that it has started mining production in its new facility based in Argentina.

The Canadian miner said its hashrate has exceeded the 4 exahash per second (EH/s) milestone as it began production at the first of its two 50-megawatt (MW) warehouses under development in Argentina. Bitfarms said the initial start-up adds 10 megawatts (MW) of power capacity to its portfolio, thus increasing total corporate capacity to 176 MW.

By deploying new facilities, the mining farm has begun the construction of its second 50 MW warehouse in Argentina, which is expected to be completed at the beginning of the second quarter of 2023.

Based on current foreign currency exchange rates and natural gas prices in Argentina, Bitfarms expects the energy cost at its newly operating 50 MW production facility in Rio Cuarto, Argentina, to be the lowest across the 10 sites in its portfolio.

Geoff Morphy, the President and COO of Bitfarms, talked about the development: “We are proud to start production ahead of plan at our first 50 MW warehouse in Rio Cuarto, marking our 10th mining facility and 4th country now in production. Executing our diversified global growth strategy to increase portfolio stability and reduce geographic and climatic risks, Argentina marks our fourth country in production.”

Currently, Bitfarms operations in Argentina hire 28 workers, which is expected to increase as production is added.

In October last year, Bitfarms signed contracts and started constructing a 210-megawatt farm in Argentina.

Why Argentina?

BTC miners consider Argentina a perfect environment for their production to thrive. Low/subsidized electricity and consumer bills to income ratio are some of the factors known to go in hand with such rapid growth.

Low energy costs mean the profit margin for miners is going to increase while electricity bills cost 3% maximum of households’ monthly income, far lower than regional neighbours. These make Argentina stand out more as an attractive target for crypto miners.

Argentina could become a crypto mining hub just like Texas. Bitcoin experts consider Texas as the world’s newest Bitcoin mining capital. The jurisdiction has been taking up China’s missed opportunity following China’s ban on crypto mining last year.

Since July last year, many Bitcoin miners found new ground in Texas and hailed that state as a new cryptocurrency hub.

To be profitable, mining cryptocurrency requires lots of cheap energy. China was once the main hub for mining because its electricity was relatively cheap. But that changed last summer when the local government imposed a shutdown on Bitcoin miners as the country heightened efforts to develop its own, better-controlled digital currency.

Since then, miners have been moving across the world, looking for places where electricity is cheap, and many have settled on Texas as their destination.

Image source: Shutterstock

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Bitcoin Miner Bitfarms Starts Building First Warehouse in Argentina, Expected to Run in Q2 of 2023

Bitfarms Ltd, a Bitcoin mining company, headquartered in Quebec, Canada, announced on Monday that it has started mining production in its new facility based in Argentina.

The Canadian miner said its hashrate has exceeded the 4 exahash per second (EH/s) milestone as it began production at the first of its two 50-megawatt (MW) warehouses under development in Argentina. Bitfarms said the initial start-up adds 10 megawatts (MW) of power capacity to its portfolio, thus increasing total corporate capacity to 176 MW.

By deploying new facilities, the mining farm has begun the construction of its second 50 MW warehouse in Argentina, which is expected to be completed at the beginning of the second quarter of 2023.

Based on current foreign currency exchange rates and natural gas prices in Argentina, Bitfarms expects the energy cost at its newly operating 50 MW production facility in Rio Cuarto, Argentina, to be the lowest across the 10 sites in its portfolio.

Geoff Morphy, the President and COO of Bitfarms, talked about the development: “We are proud to start production ahead of plan at our first 50 MW warehouse in Rio Cuarto, marking our 10th mining facility and 4th country now in production. Executing our diversified global growth strategy to increase portfolio stability and reduce geographic and climatic risks, Argentina marks our fourth country in production.”

Currently, Bitfarms operations in Argentina hire 28 workers, which is expected to increase as production is added.

In October last year, Bitfarms signed contracts and started constructing a 210-megawatt farm in Argentina.

Why Argentina?

BTC miners consider Argentina a perfect environment for their production to thrive. Low/subsidized electricity and consumer bills to income ratio are some of the factors known to go in hand with such rapid growth.

Low energy costs mean the profit margin for miners is going to increase while electricity bills cost 3% maximum of households’ monthly income, far lower than regional neighbours. These make Argentina stand out more as an attractive target for crypto miners.

Argentina could become a crypto mining hub just like Texas. Bitcoin experts consider Texas as the world’s newest Bitcoin mining capital. The jurisdiction has been taking up China’s missed opportunity following China’s ban on crypto mining last year.

Since July last year, many Bitcoin miners found new ground in Texas and hailed that state as a new cryptocurrency hub.

To be profitable, mining cryptocurrency requires lots of cheap energy. China was once the main hub for mining because its electricity was relatively cheap. But that changed last summer when the local government imposed a shutdown on Bitcoin miners as the country heightened efforts to develop its own, better-controlled digital currency.

Since then, miners have been moving across the world, looking for places where electricity is cheap, and many have settled on Texas as their destination.

Image source: Shutterstock

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Bitcoin Miner CleanSpark Acquires Mawson’s Georgia Mining Facility, Rigs for Up to $42.5M

CleanSpark, a Las Vegas-based cryptocurrency mining company, is purchasing a facility in Georgia from its rival crypto miner Mawson Infrastructure Group.

CleanSpark said on Friday that it will pay up to $33 million for the facility, with additional $9.5 million for 6,468 ASIC miners owned by Mawson at the facility.

CleanSpark stated that the purchased Georgia facility will add 0.558 exahashes per second (EH/s) to its current hashrate of 3.8 EH/s. The miner further said the site can expand an extra 150 megawatts, which would enable it to power 70,000 latest generation miners, producing over 7 EH/s.

CleanSpark disclosed that it agreed to provide Mawson with up to 30 megawatts of temporary hosting capacity for up to 180 days, while it (Mawson) transfers its miners to the Pennsylvania location.

Mawson Infrastructure Group has multiple mining operations throughout the USA and Australia. Its Beaver County facility is a 100 MW cryptocurrency mining operation located in Midland, Pennsylvania, US.

CleanSpark said the deal in terms of $26.5 million of cash consideration, 3 million in seller financing in the form of promissory notes, $11 million in CleanSpark stock ($4.5 million of which is subject to reaching certain earn-out commitments), and $2 million in a seller-financed earn-out payable at least 60 days after closing upon certain conditions being met.

Zachary Bradford, CleanSpark CEO, talked about the development: “The site is nothing but impressive. We are enthusiastic about Georgia and believe that our expansion there will continue to build value for our shareholders and the communities we operate in throughout Georgia.”

James Manning, Mawson CEO, also commented: “We now intend to focus our attention on the continued development of our Pennsylvania and Texas facilities where we see the opportunity for compelling returns on capital.”

Miners Trying to Overcome Crypto Crash

This is the second acquisition made by CleanSpark in a month.

The firm has continued taking advantage of opportunities that emerge during the market downturn.

Early last month, CleanSpark spent $25.1 million for a mining facility and Bitcoin mining rigs in Georgia.

The company acquired a 36 megawatt (MW) active facility in Georgia from Bitcoin mining company Waha Technologies for $16.2 million, and 3,400 miners in operation at the site for $8.9 million.

CleanSpark also has taken advantage of the declining prices of ASICs, purchasing 6,200 machines between June and August, and an additional 10,000 Antminer S19j Pro units this week.

The mining industry has been consolidating and is expected to continue doing so amid a bear market that is squeezing margins and rendering miners struggling. Some of the miners struggle to run businesses due to large debt obligations.

Consolidation enables the miners to bring their resources together and build greater capacities and efficiencies.

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