In February, the global Bitcoin hash rate surged to an unprecedented peak of 735 EH/s, no doubt propelled by Bitcoin's price escalation from $42,582 per coin at the month's outset to end the month at $61,198, marking a remarkable $18,616 increase or 44%. This increase in price has meant even some of the less efficient mining machines have been able to benefit with sustained profitability throughout the month.
The impact of the SEC approval of Bitcoin ETFs cannot be underestimated. On March 12, 2024, the Bitcoin spot ETFs witnessed over $1 billion in net inflows, while the network generated only 900 Bitcoin that day with a value of approximately $65 million of new Bitcoin for circulation. This stark contrast signifies a demand-supply ratio of 15x, highlighting a significant demand surge compared to the new supply. Consequently, price adjustments are anticipated to accommodate the heightened demand, and with the Bitcoin halving looming in just over five weeks, miners are striving to maximize mining benefits before rewards are halved overnight.
The Bitcoin network doesn't have one big boss in charge, it uses a special algorithm created by its founder, Satoshi Nakamoto. This algorithm, also known as the difficulty, keeps changing how hard it is to mine Bitcoin, depending on how many people are mining. This makes sure new Bitcoins are found at a steady rate. In line with the global hash and Bitcoin price increasing throughout February, the mining difficulty also increased during the month by 11%, therefore impacting the level of achieved production, and thus effectively requiring more energy to mine.
Bitdeer Technology (BTDR)
During the month February, Bitdeer mined 287 Bitcoin at an average daily rate of 9.9 Bitcoin per day, a reduction of 7.0% on the daily rate achieved in January. Bitdeer has continued to make significant strides in advancing the construction of a 175 MW immersion cooling data center at its mining facility in Tydal, Norway, projected to be operational by mid-2025. In tandem, the Company has now initiated land preparation for the establishment of a 221 MW data center in Ohio, United States, with ground leveling operations expected to commence next month. The land acquisition and securing of requisite power resources were successfully accomplished in 2023 and the Ohio Datacenter’s construction timeline aims for completion by 2025.
On March 4th Bitdeer announced the SEAL01, a cutting-edge Bitcoin mining chip built with 4-nanometer process technology. Achieving a power efficiency ratio of 18.1 J/TH, the chip promises enhanced mining performance. This is a noteworthy achievement with profound implications for the broader Bitcoin mining sector.
This milestone entails the introduction of its inaugural Bitcoin mining chip, meticulously tailored for integration within its groundbreaking SEALMINER A1 mining rig. This unveiling marks a pivotal juncture for Bitdeer, signaling its strategic endeavor to establish itself as the first fully integrated Bitcoin miner in the industry, as highlighted further in this article.
Bit Digital (BTBT)
Bit Digital produced 128.7 Bitcoin in February, bringing in revenues of $7.9 million at an average rate of 4.4 per day, a reduction of 5.6% on the daily average achieved in the previous month. The company secured and installed around 2,340 S19k Pro mining units, purchased for roughly $3.4 million, at an approximate rate of $13 per TH. These units collectively contribute about 260 PH/s with an average efficiency of 23 J/TH.
As of February 29, 2024, the company held Bitcoin and Ethereum in treasury holdings valued at approximately $51.9 million and $52.1 million, respectively. The total Bitcoin equivalent of their digital asset holdings totaled around 1,722.3, valued at approximately $105.4 million. Additionally, the company held cash and cash equivalents totaling $34.1 million as of the same date.
The company had approximately 12,784 Ethereum natively staked and 400 Ethereum deployed in liquid staking protocols, achieving an annual blended yield of 4.4% during February 2024, earning staking rewards of about 43.4 Ethereum.
By February 29, 2024, Bit Digital had 251 servers actively generating revenue from its initial Bit Digital AI contract, resulting in an estimated unaudited revenue of $4 million for the month of February 2024, as part of a contract set to deliver $50 million a year in annualized revenues. CEO, Sam Tabar, recently updated that this business unit could potentially reach $100 million in annualized revenues by the end of this year.
Bitfarms (BITF)
Bitfarms reported a total of 300 Bitcoin produced in the month of February at an average daily rate of 10.3 Bitcoin per day, a reduction of 10.2% on the rate achieved in January.
The company is executing its fleet upgrade with deliveries of high-efficiency Bitmain T21 miners expected to commence in March, which should increase the operational hash rate by 8% to 7 EH/s and improve energy efficiency by 11% to 31 J/TH.
In Paso Pe, Paraguay, where installation of hydro containers and miners is underway, they’re expected to contribute approximately 3.2 EH/s with an efficiency of 24 J/TH by mid-March. Further progress is being achieved in Yguazu, Paraguay, with the signing of an engineering, procurement, and construction contract for the ANDE substation, facilitating a new 100 MW hydro-powered project expected to contribute roughly 3 EH/s at 22 J/TH efficiency.
During the reporting period, Bitfarms executed the sale of 300 Bitcoin, resulting in total proceeds of $15.1 million. Their treasury holdings remain 804 Bitcoin, valued at approximately $50 million as of February 29, 2024. Additionally, the company maintained a Synthetic HODL™ portfolio comprising 135 long-dated BTC call options by the end of February 29, 2024. The company successfully paid off the remaining $2 million of debt during the month, as planned.
On March 8, 2024 Bitfarms announced a $375 million 'At The Market' (ATM) offering, which is going to be used in the first instance, to purchase 47,280 Bitmain T21 miners units at $14/TH, alongside 3,888 Bitmain S21 miners and 740 S21 hydro miners at $17.50/TH, bringing the total spending to over $140 million. These developments align with the company's target hashrate of 17 EH/s in H2 2024 and move towards the overarching goal of reaching 21 EH/s by year-end.
Core Scientific (CORZ)
Core Scientific mined 893 Bitcoin during the month of February, at an average rate of 30.8 Bitcoin per day, a reduction of 7.1% when compared to the previous month. This was the highest total achieved in February by a North American miner, eclipsing the total of 833 Bitcoin achieved by Marathon Digital Holdings (MARA).
The company increased its self-mining hash rate by 300 petahash, during February, primarily through the redeployment of earlier-generation miners along with more efficient S19j XP utilizing newly activated capacity. The swift reactivation of these miners bolstered the hash rate and augmented bitcoin earnings.
All miner payments scheduled for 2024, related to the previously announced S19j XPs and S21s, have been finalized, allowing the company to focus its direction towards new miner acquisitions and the execution of organic infrastructure growth plans.
On March 6, 2024, Core Scientific unveiled a multi-year contract, committing to supply CoreWeave, a specialized cloud provider, with up to 16 MW of data center infrastructure, potentially generating over $100 million in revenue. The agreement entails delivering capacity at Core Scientific's new Austin, TX data center, repurposing a former Hewlett Packard tier 3 facility to accommodate CoreWeave's infrastructure needs, extending Core Scientific's hosting services to include High Performance Computing (HPC).
DMG Blockchain (DMGI)
DMG Blockchain produced 49.3 Bitcoin during the month, at an average daily rate of 1.7, a reduction of 1.5% of the daily rate achieved in January. In terms of production, that equated to 49.3 Bitcoin per EH/s, a total only bettered by SATO Technology in February.
The company expects 50% of its 4,550 unit miner purchase of T21 miners to ship in March 2024. Once received and installed, this will add over 400 PH/s to the hash rate taking the energized hash rate to over 1.5 EH/s and significantly improving the efficiency and readiness for April’s Bitcoin halving.
DMG Blockchain sold 63 Bitcoin during the month, representing 128% of the production, maintaining a Bitcoin Hodl of 454 Bitcoin, currently valued at $28 million.
HIVE Digital (HIVE)
Hive Digital mined 200 Bitcoin during the month of February, adding $12.2 million in revenues at an average rate of 6.9 Bitcoin per day, a reduction of 8.9% in the daily rate achieved during the previous month.
On February 21, 2024 the company announced the acquisition of 1,000 Bitmain S21 Antminers, providing 200 petahash per second (PH/s) of high-efficiency Bitcoin mining capacity. These S21 units operate at 17.5 joules per terahash (J/TH), positioning them as the newest and most efficient Bitmain Bitcoin mining ASIC system.
Hive Digital has strategically prepared for the Bitcoin Halving event, focusing on upgrading its fleet rather than expanding its footprint, aiming to lower average production costs. By transitioning existing ASICs to the S21, the company plans to increase its target Exahash from 5.3 EH/s at 24.7 J/TH to 5.5 EH/s by June 2024, optimizing its 140 MW operating infrastructure globally.
The company is now retaining 100% of mined Bitcoin, which takes their total held to 2,131 Bitcoin - valued at $130 million as at February 29, 2024. In anticipation of reduced block rewards post-Halving and bolstered by strong US Bitcoin ETF inflows, Hive Digital will maintain a prudent treasury position.
Hive Digital proudly disclosed its recognition as the top performer in the Technology Category of the 2024 TSX Venture 50 list. This prestigious ranking, comprising 50 companies across five diverse industry sectors, evaluates performance based on three equally weighted criteria over the past year. DMG Blockchain came in second, with SATO Technology also making the list.
Hut 8 Corp (HUT)
Hut 8 mined 292 Bitcoin during February, at an average daily rate of 10.1 per day, a reduction of 7.9% on the average achieved during the previous month.
In February, Hut 8 initiated managed services for Ionic Digital, integrating purpose-built software and transitioning systems across four Texas sites totaling 87 MW. Progress is notable at Ionic Digital's Cedarvale site in Ward County, Texas where electrical work for the initial 35 MW phase is underway.
On March 6, 2024, the company confirmed the closure of its Drumheller site in Alberta, Canada, as part of ongoing restructuring efforts. The site will cease Bitcoin mining operations and transfer efficient minersto the Medicine Hat site. Hut 8 retains the lease and the option to reactivate the site based on market conditions.
In February Hut 8 sold 298 Bitcoin representing 102% of the monthly production, and have a total of 9,110 Bitcoin held in the treasury with a value of $558 million as of February 29, 2024.
IREN (IREN)
Iris Energy recently announced its official name change to IREN, aligning with its evolving next-generation data center business. The company mined 310 Bitcoin during the month of February, at an average rate of 10.7 Bitcoin per day, a reduction of 2,8% on the rate achieved during the previous month.
The average operational hash rate during February was 6.3 EH/s with a total of 7 EH/s operational on February 29, 2024 and remains on course to achieve its target of 10 EH/s by H1 2024. The company has an additional 10 EH/s of new Bitmain T21 miners secured via fixed price contracts that are due to be received by the end of the year whilst the 200MW expansion is completed at the Childress data center.
On February 14, 2024, IREN announced a significant expansion, tripling its AI cloud services business. The company has procured 568 NVIDIA H100 GPUs for $22 million, enhancing its service capacity to 816 GPUs. The growing customer demand for these services is driving the rapid expansion in this sector. Delivery of the additional GPUs expected in Q2 2024.
Riot Platforms (RIOT)
Riot Platforms produced 418 Bitcoin during February, at an average daily rate of 14.4 Bitcoin per day, a reduction of 14.1% on the daily rate achieved in the previous month. This represented a total of 33.7 Bitcoin per EH/s, significantly lower than peer miners. However, the company was able to achieve a total of $1.2 million in power sales and demand response credits.
In order to address poor production, the company recently announced a new purchase order with MicroBT for 31,500 miners, with a combined total of 5.9 EH/s purchased for $97.4 million, equating to approximately $16.50/TH, all destined for their Rockdale Facility. This acquisition aims to enhance mining efficiency and uptime, elevating the facility's hash rate capacity to 15.1 EH/s, with approximately 17,000 miners from this order replacing underperforming units with improved operational performance expected upon installation in Q2 and completion in Q3 2024.
Riot Platforms is advancing Phase 1 of their Corsicana Facility, which is projected to achieve 400 MW of developed mining capacity initially with a long-term goal of 1 GW capacity. In February, the structural framework for Building A1, the first 100 MW structure, was finalized. Concurrently, onsite teams progressed in deploying immersion cooling system tanks. Foundation work for Building A2, the subsequent 100 MW building, commenced and is slated for completion after Building A1.
The company chose to sell none of their Bitcoin production during the month in order to build the Bitcoin held in treasury, now totaling 8,067, with a value of $494 million as ofFebruary 29, 2024.
SATO Technology (SATO)
SATO Technology mined 26 Bitcoin during the month of February, at an average daily rate of 0.9 Bitcoin per day, a reduction of 10.3% on the amount achieved during the month of January. This was partly due to the company’s load shedding agreement with Hydro Joliette where they sustained 10.65 hours of load shedding representing around 1.53% of their operating hours. Despite this, and with an operational hash rate of 520 PH/s, they effectively achieved a rate of 50 Bitcoin per EH/s, the highest of all the North American public miners.
The company sold 22 Bitcoin for a total of $1.28 million during the month, representing 85% of their production, and increasing their hodl to 49 Bitcoin, with a current value of $3.2 million. They also have $1.2 million in cash, taking their treasury total to $4.4 million.
Soluna Holdings (SLNH)
Soluna Holdings mined 39 Bitcoin dring the month, at an average rate of 1.3 Bitcoin per day, a reduction of 5.3% on the average rate achieved in February. The smaller reduction was due to the increased operational hash rate to 818 PH/s (+7.2%), as well as achieving a 97% utilization rate throughout the month.
On March 14, 2024, the company announced that Project Dorothy 2, a 50 MW data center situated at a Texas wind farm, has advanced through the ERCOT Large Flexible Load approval process. This milestone paves the way for initiating the bidding process and securing financing for the expansion.
Project Dorothy 2 will accommodate Soluna's 48 MW Bitcoin Hosting expansion and a new 2 MW specialized AI data center named Helix. CEO, John Belizaire, emphasized the company's readiness to accelerate Project Dorothy 2's deployment based on their successful experience with Project Dorothy's initial phase.
Financially, the project is projected to yield up to $14 million in additional annualized operating profits and boasts an impressive return on invested capital. With a focus on sustainability, Soluna aims to maintain its low carbon footprint with Project Dorothy 2, building on the success of its predecessor. Currently in the construction bidding phase, the project is set to advance swiftly with various financing options under consideration.
TeraWulf (WULF)
TeraWulf mined 364 Bitcoin in February, at an average rate of 12.6 Bitcoin per day, an increase of 24.3% on the average daily rate achieved in January. As of the end of February, the operational infrastructure capacity at the Lake Mariner facility stood at 160 MW, while TeraWulf's total self-mining hash rate reached 7.9 EH/s. The average power cost for self-mining one bitcoin during the month stood at $13,968, equivalent to approximately $0.037 per kilowatt-hour (kWh). This calculation does not include the anticipated revenue from demand response or ancillary services.
TeraWulf anticipates concluding March with a self-mining capacity exceeding 8.0 EH/s, largely driven by the procurement of around 4,000 Bitmain S19k Pro miners in February. A subset of these miners will replace roughly 2,000 MinerVa units currently operational at the Lake Mariner facility.
Construction progress for Building 4 (35 MW) at the Lake Mariner facility remains on schedule, with completion anticipated by mid-2024. This development is projected to augment TeraWulf's overall operational capacity to approximately 10 EH/s.
To date, a sum of $40 million in debt has been fully repaid, effectively extending the cash flow sweep to maturity of the Term Loan. An additional substantial debt repayment is anticipated in early April, facilitated by the cash generated in Q1 2024, which has been aided by the increased price of Bitcoin.
Monthly Mining Metrics
In terms of physical Bitcoin production, Core Scientific mined the most Bitcoin in February with 893, with Marathon Digital and CleanSpark making the top 3, with 833 and 648 Bitcoin produced, respectively.
In terms of Bitcoin production per EH/s, it was two of the smaller miners, SATO Technology and DMG Blockchain that led the way with Hive Digital narrowly missing out on second spot. IREN took top spot in terms of Utilization for the month of February achieving 99.8%, followed by SATO Technology and Soluna Holdings.
In February, the trend to sell less Bitcoin continued for a number of miners with Riot Platforms adding all its Bitcoin produced in the month to its treasury, benefiting from the rise in Bitcoin price. CleanSpark only sold 2.8 Bitcoin with Hive Digital selling just 8 Bitcoin, representing 4% of its monthly production.
