Mining News in October: Ethiopia becomes a mining hub; BTC mining cost reaches $49,500

Original title: "BitDeer October Mining News: Ethiopia becomes a mining concentration area, Northern Data plans to divest mining business, Bitcoin mining costs reach $49,500, etc."

Original source: Wu said blockchain

1.BitDeer announced the parameters of SEALMINER A2 series Bitcoin mining machines. SEALMINER A2 air-cooled mining machine has a computing power of 226 TH/s and an energy efficiency ratio of 16.5 J/TH. SEALMINER A2Hyd water-cooled mining machine has a computing power of 446 TH/s and an energy efficiency ratio of 16.5 J/TH. It is built on a 2U standard server, easy to deploy, and seamlessly compatible with Shenma's water cooling infrastructure.

2. Bitcoin mining company Terawulf has sold its 25% stake in the nuclear-powered Nautilus Bitcoin mine in Pennsylvania to its joint venture partner Talen Energy for $92 million. Terawulf announced that the company completed the deal "before the expiration of the $0.02/kWh electricity contract and land lease in June 2027." The company plans to reinvest the proceeds in the construction of a 20-megawatt facility called CB-1 at its flagship Lake Mariner base in New York, dedicated to hosting high-performance computing (HPC) and AI data centers. Terawulf said the construction of CB-1 "is expected to be operational in the first quarter of 2025."

3. Anduro, a Layer2 network incubated by Bitcoin mining company Marathon Digital (MARA), launched the tokenization platform Avant to issue and invest in real-world assets (RWA) on the Bitcoin network. Avant, developed in conjunction with tokenization platform Vertalo, is planning a pilot project to tokenize whiskey barrels. (CoinDesk)

4. More than two dozen residents of the town of Granbury, Texas, filed a lawsuit against crypto miner Marathon Digital, claiming that the noise from its mine near the town was "unbearable." The lawsuit said some locals experienced symptoms such as fatigue, headaches, memory loss, hearing loss, migraines and tinnitus. Some residents' pre-existing health conditions, such as high blood pressure, also worsened. The residents asked the court to issue a permanent injunction against the miner to prevent it from "making, causing or allowing any unreasonable noise." They also asked for any compensation that they "may reasonably deserve" as well as litigation costs.

5.Ethan Vera, co-founder and COO of Luxor, revealed that Bitcoin mining in Ethiopia consumes 600MW of electricity, and it is expected that several hundred megawatts of mining machines will be launched within the year. Vera said that miners mainly use Antminer S19J Pro and Avalon A1346 models. Thanks to the low local electricity costs, Ethiopia has become an ideal place to use such mining machines. According to estimates, this mining capacity accounts for about 2.5% of the global Bitcoin network computing power.

6.Bitmain announced the release of the ANTMINER S21+ series of mining machines, of which the S21+ Hyd has a single-machine computing power of 319 T and an energy efficiency ratio of 15.0 J/T, and the S21+ has a single-machine computing power of 216 T and an energy efficiency ratio of 16.5 J/T. Bitmain also exhibited the air-cooled mining machine ANTMINER S21 XP, the oil-cooled mining machine ANTMINER S21 XP Imm, and the water-cooled container ANTRACK.

7. Crypto mining company Compass Mining announced a partnership with South Korean digital asset service provider Mindshift to expand its Bitcoin mining business in South Korea. The partnership aims to address challenges such as high electricity bills and provide more convenient Bitcoin mining services to South Korean residents. In addition, Mindshift plans to launch a new product that will enable Korean customers to purchase Bitcoin mining equipment and maintain it in Compass's data center.

8. Crypto mining company IREN (formerly Iris Energy) was sued by investors for misleading investors in its high-performance computing business. On October 7, a class action lawsuit led by Paul Williams-Israel was filed in a federal court in New York, alleging that IREN's facility in Childress, Texas, was falsely advertised as a data center that could be used for high-performance computing (HPC) and that its computing power was exaggerated. The lawsuit also states that IREN's expansion plan and HPC strategy released in a statement in June 2023 contained significant false information.

9.The city of Thorndale, Texas, passed a resolution in support of local residents, expressing opposition to the establishment of a 15-megawatt Bitcoin mining facility in the area. The project was proposed by Data Factory Austin and planned to be built in Milam County near Thorndale. But local residents expressed concerns about the project and launched a petition to try to stop its development. The petition pointed out that Bitcoin mining consumes a lot of electricity, consuming the equivalent of the daily electricity consumption of 10,500 households, and that Bitcoin itself has no intrinsic value, and non-participating people should not be burdened with high electricity bills.

10.Bitcoin mining company Bit Digital (BTBT) announced the acquisition of the Enovum data center in Montreal, Canada, a Tier 3 high-performance computing (HPC) facility for $46 million. The acquisition was financed through the company's cash reserves and approximately 1.62 million newly issued BTBT shares.

11.Digital asset broker FalconX has launched an automatic clearing service designed to improve capital efficiency for cryptocurrency mining companies in the Asia-Pacific region. FalconX said the service automatically converts cryptocurrency mining rewards, including Bitcoin, Litecoin and other proof-of-work tokens, into U.S. dollars. The service will simplify the operations of mining companies, allowing them to reinvest in their businesses faster without manual transactions or reliance on third-party providers. (Decrypt)

12.Blockstream, a Bitcoin infrastructure development company, announced the completion of $210 million in convertible note financing, led by Fulgur Ventures. Blockstream co-founder and CEO Adam Back said that this round of financing will be used to accelerate the market adoption of its Layer 2 technology, expand mining operations, and increase Bitcoin reserves. Blockstream's Layer 2 solutions include Liquid Network and Core Lightning. The company claims that to date, more than $1.8 billion in assets have been issued on Liquid, including stablecoins, tokenized bonds and securities, of which about 3,844 bitcoins (about $250 million) are locked on the chain. In addition, Blockstream plans to position Liquid as the "de facto infrastructure" for the tokenization of physical assets within the Bitcoin ecosystem. (The Block)

13.Bitcoin mining company MARA announced that it has obtained a $200 million line of credit from an undisclosed counterparty and used part of its Bitcoin holdings as collateral. The company said it would use the funds to pursue strategic opportunities and for other general corporate purposes. While MARA did not disclose specific details about the terms of the line of credit, recent agreements with industry competitors have loan-to-value ratios of approximately 70% and a weighted average interest rate of 4.2%. Assuming a 70% loan-to-value ratio, MARA will need to pledge approximately 4,000 BTC as collateral for the $200 million line of credit. The line of credit follows MARA's issuance of $300 million in convertible bonds two months ago, with a bond interest rate of 2.125%. The company then used $250 million of the proceeds to purchase 4,144 BTC. As of September 30, MARA held a total reserve of 26,842 Bitcoins.

14. Bitcoin mining hosting provider Revolve Labs plans to build an artificial intelligence data center in central Minnesota after withdrawing its mining expansion proposal due to community opposition. Revolve Labs met with the Glencoe Economic Development Authority in September and planned to expand its facilities in the city to accommodate one or two artificial intelligence data centers, as well as cooling systems and backup generators. The project is expected to have a capacity of 10 megawatts, employ about 10 employees, and cost an estimated $40 million to $60 million. As part of Revolve Labs' proposal, they intend to purchase two plots of land totaling 6.2 acres and build a substation for the expansion. Revolve Labs currently operates a Bitcoin mining facility in Glencoe with a capacity of approximately 20 megawatts and a computing power of 537 PH/s. Previously, the company attempted to increase its mining capacity in Minnesota, but withdrew its application after the community objected due to noise issues.

15.The Russian government and the country's crypto miner BitRiver announced that they will build mining data centers in the BRICS countries. The plan involves the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), and the two parties announced the relevant news at the BRICS Business Forum in Moscow on October 18. BitRiver CEO Igor Runets said that the plan will focus on building infrastructure based on crypto mining and enhancing global computing power to support the development of artificial intelligence projects. Currently, BitRiver has 21 data centers in Russia and is building 10 new centers.

16.Germany-based Northern Data is considering divesting its Bitcoin mining subsidiary to transform to a pure AI strategy. Northern Data announced that it has initiated "negotiations with relevant parties on the possible divestiture of its crypto mining business Peak Mining." In a subsequent announcement, the company said that the potential proceeds from the sale will be invested in acquiring more data centers, purchasing GPUs, and developing its AI product platform.

17.Bitmain-affiliated cloud mining company BitFuFu announced that it will acquire an 80-megawatt Bitcoin mining facility in Ethiopia, with an average electricity cost of less than $0.04 per kilowatt-hour. After the completion of this transaction, BitFuFu's hosting capacity will exceed 600 megawatts. Most of BitFuFu's mining infrastructure is currently located in the United States.

18.Bitcoin mining company Hut 8 announced that it has converted all of its approximately $38 million outstanding loans from its subsidiary to Anchorage Lending CA into the company's common stock at a price of $16.395 per share, a 51% premium over the weighted average price of the 20 days before September 26. Hut 8 CEO Asher Genoot said that after the loan conversion, Hut 8's balance sheet has been strengthened and debt has been reduced, and the company will be better able to advance discussions with potential partners and execute the development plan of the next generation of mining and AI data centers.

19. Bitcoin mining company Terawulf announced plans to issue $350 million in convertible notes for a share repurchase of up to $200 million, which is expected to be completed by December 2025. The company also offers initial purchasers the option to add $75 million within 13 days of issuance. Terawulf said the notes will mature in 2030.

20. Tether is discussing the possibility of issuing boron tokens through blockchain technology with the Turkish government and has proposed to establish a digital asset exchange in Istanbul. Tether believes that tokenizing boron can help modernize market operations. Turkey is the world's largest supplier of boron ore, with boron ore sales expected to reach $1.3 billion in 2024. The proposal is still in its early stages, and Turkish Energy Ministry officials said it could not be implemented immediately.

21.Bitdeer launched the second round of second-hand mining machine auctions on its official website. This round of auctions targets the Shenma mining machine M30S++ in its Gedu mine in Bhutan, a total of 1,000 units, which will be auctioned in two batches, 500 units per batch, with a starting price of $1.8/T. The two batches of mining machines were finally sold at $3.09/T and $2.15/T.

22.Decentralized protocol Prosper announced that Bitmain's affiliate Metalpha has invested in its native token PROS to support the project's new strategic focus, which is to bring institutional-level Bitcoin mining computing power to the chain. Previously, Prosper announced a shift in its strategic direction, focusing on Bitcoin mining and the related Bitcoin ecosystem. Once the transition is complete, Prosper's token foundation will have a large number of Bitcoin miners, and members of the token foundation will directly contribute to the operation and production of Bitcoin's underlying mining capacity. In addition, Prosper also plans to use Metalpha's knowledge of digital asset derivatives to customize BTC hedging products for Prosper's mining business.

23.Russian Deputy Energy Minister Yevgeny Grabchak announced that due to energy shortages in some regions, Russia will restrict cryptocurrency mining activities in areas with scarce electricity resources, involving the Far East, Southwest Siberia and the South, and the power shortage is expected to continue until 2030. On October 28, Russian police arrested a crypto miner suspected of electricity fraud in the Novosibirsk region, who illegally made about $120,000 in profits from mining. Previously, the digital asset supervision law signed by Putin will take effect on November 1, giving the government the authority to restrict or prohibit mining in some areas to reduce the burden on the power grid and strengthen supervision of crypto activities.

24. Bitcoin mining company Riot Platforms suffered a net loss of $154.4 million in the third quarter, exceeding expectations, and lowered its future computing power expectations. Total revenue in the third quarter was $84.8 million, of which Bitcoin mining contributed $67.5 million, and gross profit margin fell sharply from 181% to 42% year-on-year. 1,104 Bitcoins were produced in the third quarter, which was basically the same as the 1,106 Bitcoins mined in the same period last year. (The Block)

25. CoinShares' latest third-quarter mining report shows that Bitcoin mining costs have climbed to record levels. If only cash expenses are calculated, the production cost of each Bitcoin is about $49,500; if additional expenses such as depreciation and stock compensation are included, the average cost is as high as $96,100. Chief researcher James Butterfill pointed out that despite the high costs, miners are still expanding infrastructure and plan to invest further in anticipation of future price increases.

26. The Jingde Court of Zhejiang Province recently concluded a case involving a dispute over a contract for the sale of a virtual currency mining machine. In April 2021, the plaintiff Hang purchased a "mining machine" platform and 64 hard disks from the defendant Chen, with a total value of 429,000 yuan. After paying the full amount, Chen failed to deliver the equipment as agreed and only returned 180,000 yuan. The court cited the National Development and Reform Commission's "Notice on Rectifying Virtual Currency "Mining" Activities" in September 2021 and the Central Bank and other departments' "Notice on Further Preventing and Dealing with Virtual Currency Trading Speculation Risks", and determined that virtual currency-related business activities were illegal financial activities. The court ruled that the mining machine sales contract was invalid because it violated public order and good morals, and required the defendant to return the remaining 249,000 yuan in payment.

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