TeraWulf mined more BTC in January due to reduced power costs
US-based cryptocurrency miner TeraWulf produced 157 BTC in January, a 25.6% increase compared to December.
Snowstorms towards the end of 2022 paralyzed operations and increased electricity bills. The weather normalized in January, hence the better production results.
Expansion plans for 2023
TeraWulf reinforced its mining operations with an increased number of machines last month. It received 6,100 miners from Bitmain, bringing the total to 18,000. A further 15,900 machines are expected to arrive by the end of Q1 2023.
As of late January, the organization had a hash rate capacity of approximately 2.0 EH/s at its Lake Mariner facility.
Electricity costs, another main driver of the increased production levels, fell from $0.060/kWh to $0.052/kWh in January due to the more favorable weather conditions.
CEO Paul Prager said the company’s goal is to reach a hash rate capacity of 5.5 EH/si by early spring:
“In 2023, our plan is to aggressively expand and efficiently drive our deployed hash rate as we install the remaining miners and ramp up our facilities with the goal of reaching 5.5 EH/s sustainable, affordable operating capacity early in Q2 2023. “
TeraWulf’s shares reacted positively to the news, rising 8% in 24 hours. However, WULF retreated significantly in early February when the firm restructured its debt obligations to avoid further problems and a possible petition for bankruptcy protection.
The bear market has seriously hurt several bitcoin mining companies, with Core Scientific among the examples. It archived for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection a few days before Christmas 2022.
Marathon and Riot also did well
January was a good month for two of the leading BTC miners – Marathon Digital and Riot Blockchain. The former produced 687 BTC, 45% more than in December. Nevertheless, it sold some of its holdings for the first time since October 2020 to cover operating expenses.
Despite that, Marathon remains one of the largest bitcoin holders with 11,418 BTC. The only entity with greater exposure is MicroStrategy which has over 130,000 BTC.
Riot Blockchain extracted 740 BTC in January, marking its monthly record high. It also used the primary cryptocurrency’s price surge in the first few weeks of the year to sell 700 BTC for around $13.7 million. At the end of January, the company had 6,978 BTC (nearly $162 million at current valuations).
