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The bitcoin mining industry has suffered a bear market lasting over a year. Miners lost the vast majority of their market capitalizations, resulting in companies seeking alternative sources of income, like taking subsidies for modulating municipal power grids, monetizing flared gas, or wholesaling stranded energy contracts.
Nonetheless, this year’s 64% rally in bitcoin has certainly buoyed mining stocks. The bull is back.
- Riot has rallied 130% and now enjoys 11 Buy ratings by Wall Street analysts.
- Marathon and Iris Energy have both more than doubled year-to-date and enjoy seven Buy ratings apiece.
- Similarly, Hive, Hut 8, BitFarms, and Argo have more than doubled.
In addition, there are many privately-held bitcoin mining companies such as Bitmain, Foundry, Binance Mining, Cormint, Genesis, BitFury, Crusoe, Gryphon, MintGreen, Compass, NiceHash, Compute North, and hundreds of others.
A rising tide has lifted all boats. With a gust of wind finally in their sails, what are some of the big names in the Bitcoin mining industry up to?
Some newsworthy occurrences in the Bitcoin mining industry
Riot Blockchain increased the amount of bitcoin in its coffers by 353% in the past year. It also aimed to add more than 115,000 Antminer ASICs to its operations in January 2023.
Like many Bitcoin mining companies, Marathon Digital Holdings did business with Silvergate Bank. It recently repaid a term loan and halted its loan facilities with Silvergate. Marathon said those moves freed 3,132 bitcoin it had posted as collateral.
Law firm Faruqi & Faruqi is examining potential claims against Marathon over investor losses from trading its stock or stock options. Embarassingly, Marathon posted a $682 million loss from its 2022 fiscal year due to the bear market and high energy costs.
Compass Mining is feuding with Bitmain over the design of Bitmain’s new S19 mining machines. Design flaws could cause the machines to overheat, damaging sensitive electronic parts. Its mining operations department warned followers interested in mining to avoid the new designs of Bitmain’s mining rigs.
Bitmain changed its ASIC design. Miners need to be readyhttps://t.co/cs8z96lR1L pic.twitter.com/2NN4O3sEfP
— Will Foxley 🧭 (@wsfoxley) March 7, 2023
Read more: Bitcoin mining protocol Stratum V2 opens for testing
HIVE Blockchain Technologies also posted negative earnings in its most recent quarter. It admitted losses associated with Ethereum’s switch to Proof-of-Stake, obsolescing its Ethereum mining rigs. More recently, it reported 250 bitcoin mined in February 2023, averaging 2.75 exahashes per second in mining power throughout the month. HIVE also reported receipt of a shipment of 5,600 BuzzMiners, which it’ it’s installing in its datacenters.
BitFarms struggled through a fourth quarter 2022 loss due to the bear market, rising energy costs, and contending with Bitcoin’s mining difficulty. It says it’s considering a potential acquisition. However, BitFarms also said it aims to leverage its Argentina-based operations to achieve six exahashes per second in mining power this year after missing its hashrate goals set last year.
Cipher Mining Technologies reported $3 million in revenue in 2022. However, it also posted a $37.4 million loss. It recently promoted two employees to Co-President and Chief Administrative Officer.
Core Scientific has been going through bankruptcy proceedings. The presiding judge in its bankruptcy case recently ordered it to transfer $20 million in equipment to an energy supplier. The judge also approved a $70 million loan to help it continue operations throughout its legal proceedings. The company reported production of 1,360 bitcoin in February 2023, a 10.8% month-over-month decline.
Argo Blockchain said its deposits at Signature Bank are secure and denied any exposure to the now-bankrupt Silvergate and Silicon Valley banks. Argo reported a 7% month-on-month increase in bitcoin production as of February 2023.
Bit Digital hired Sam Tabar as its new CEO and announced changes to its executive leadership, advisory board, and strategic priorities in 2023. It sold its remaining shares in Crypto Flow.
Founded in 1937, Greenidge Generation Holdings is a legacy power production company that recently started mining bitcoin. It produces hashrate exceeding 2.4 exahashes per second and recently restructured $11 million in debt to give itself more time for repayment. It planned to raise $1 million in a stock sale to help pay down the debt. It also plans to sell unused real estate near its South Carolina mining facility.