CleanSpark buys 20,000 new Bitcoin miners to scale up
CleanSpark, a Bitcoin miner, is expanding its US mining capacity by purchasing 20,000 additional Antminer S19j Pro+ machines for a total cost of $43.6 million. It is expected that the acquisition will increase the processing capacity of the company by 37%. In addition, the transaction will bring the total number of miners acquired during the bear market up to 46,500 units.
After applying coupons for a 25% discount, CleanSpark will pay $32.3 million for the machines. This comes out to a total price per terahash (TH) of around $13.25, according to a statement released on February 16. The Pro+ rigs are expected to be delivered in batches between the months of March and May, and are 22% more productive than their previous versions.
The firm is increasing its mining capacity by taking advantage of the market’s declining rig pricing to do so while the price of Bitcoin (BTC) is on the rise. According to information provided by the Hashrate Index, the price per TH for ASICs with the same Bitcoin mining efficiency is currently $15.09, which is a significant drop from the price of $90.72 seen a year ago. Compared to other computers of the same ASIC generation, the Antminer S19j Pro+ model, according to CleanSpark, provides a higher return on investment.
According to the business, “Once fully operational, it is estimated that they will add 2.44 EH/s to CleanSpark’s current 6.6 EH/s of bitcoin mining processing capacity (for a total of 9 EH/s),” which will represent an increase of 37%.
CleanSpark claims that the purchased models continue to be more attractive to the business in the current market conditions and that this trend is likely to continue for the foreseeable future. “The S19j Pro+ delivers 122 terahashes per machine and saves an average of 2 joules of energy per terahash compared to the S19j Pro model of the same generation,” the company said, adding that a total of 15,000 of the new machines will be shipped to the company’s locations in the city of Washington , Georgia. It was announced in January by CleanSpark that the site will receive a $16 million expansion. This expansion is expected to result in a hash rate increase of 2.2 exahashes per second (EH/s), bringing the total hash rate to as high as 8.7 EH/s. Before moving into the premises previously occupied by Mawson Infrastructure Group in Sandersville, the firm purchased the building in August of the previous year.
According to a survey conducted by the Hashrate Index, listed miners saw an increase in mining output as well as hash rates in January, following a challenging year in 2022 marked by falling Bitcoin prices and rising power costs. The amount of Bitcoin mined by CleanSpark throughout the month increased by a whopping 50 percent, reaching a new monthly output of 697 BTC. Since December, when it was 6.2 EH/s, the hash rate has increased to 6.6 EH/s.
Other public mining companies, such as Core Scientific, Riot, Marathon, and Cipher, have seen significant increases in Bitcoin production over the past month. This was made possible by consistent increases in electricity costs in the US as well as improved weather conditions.