Bitcoin (BTC) miner Hive Digital Technologies says the move to acquire a fleet of Bitmain mining rigs last year has already paid for itself, due in large part to a significant increase in the price of Bitcoin.
In a Dec. 8 statement, Hive Digital wrote that it had been acquiring mining rigs since the collapse of FTX, a decision it believes will put it in a favorable position for the upcoming Bitcoin halving, currently slated for April 2024.
276.3 Bitcoin produced from ASIC and GPU mining operations, representing an average of 66.7 Bitcoin Per Exahash
Produced an average of 9.2 BTC per day
Ended the month with 4.18 EH/s of mining capacity,… pic.twitter.com/4pWYah2NfD
— HIVE Digital Technologies (@HIVEDigitalTech) December 7, 2023
Hive purchased a total of 3,750 Bitmain S19J rigs on Dec. 22, 2022, with President and COO Aydin Kilic saying the team had also updated its software stack to accommodate the new rigs.
S19J mining rigs were the top-of-the-line ASIC rigs in 2022, but have since been succeeded by the S19Ks, which boast a lower energy consumption rating than their predecessors.
“Since the collapse of FTX in November 2022, which marked Bitcoin heading into a year-long bear market, HIVE has used the opportunity to acquire new generation ASICs at attractive $/TH prices.”
Overall, since the collapse of FTX, Hive Digital has purchased 29,000 ASICs, with two separate acquisitions of 9,800 Bitmain S19k Pro mining rigs announced on Nov. 14 and Dec. 4 this year.
“The approximately 29,000 ASICs were purchased at an average price of approximately $13.70/TH,” wrote Hive Digital, describing the acquisition price as attractive considering the rigs have an average output of 26 J/TH.
Hive Digital said the recent acquisitions of mining rigs have seen its global fleet efficiency rise to a rate of 28.9 J/TH with an expected operating hash rate of 4.8 EH/s by the end of December 2023.
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Additionally, Hive reported that it had produced 276.3 Bitcoin in November 2023 from ASICs and GPUs, representing an average of 66.7 Bitcoins per Exahash.
Since Jan. 1 this year, Bitcoin has grown more than 160%, resulting in a boon for miners, many of which struggled through a particularly difficult crypto winter spanning from the end of 2021 and running through all of 2022.
Bitcoin is currently changing hands for $43,400, up 9.8% in the last seven days, per Cointelegraph price data.
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