Kaivospäivitys – Q1-raporttikortit, vertaisriidat ja puolittumisen valmistelut

In focus – Bitfarms, Riot Platforms (RIOT ), Hive Blockchain, Marathon Digital (MARA ), Stronghold Digital, CleanSpark (CLSK ), Hut 8 (HUT ) and Cipher Mining (CIFR ).

Bitcoin-kaivostyöläiset julkaisevat huhtikuun ja ensimmäisen neljänneksen talous- ja toimintapäivitykset

Estimate figures compiled by Glassnode earlier this month indicated that Bitcoin miners have earned more than $50 billion in fees and block reward subsidies since the digital asset began openly trading in 2010. Researchers from the blockchain analytics firm korostivat in a May 2 report on Bitcoin production cost that despite tight margins starting in 2015 and onwards, mining entities were still 37% in profit within the period. The raportoitu figures matched expectations given that Bitcoin’s hashrate and network difficulty reign near record levels.

Kaivosten vaikeusastekaavio

Last week, most mining firms shared their quarterly earnings reports for the just concluded period. Here is a recap of the financials, updates on the progress of existing initiatives, and propositions on future plans.

Marathon Digital kasvatti hashratea, leikkasi kaivostyökustannuksia ja paransi taseensa Q1:ssä

Bitcoin miner Marathon Digital posted its first-quarter results last Wednesday, revealing a net loss of $7.2 million compared to $23 million in Q1, 2022. The figure translated to a quarter’s loss per share of $0.05 against a forecast of $0.08 per FactSet. Revenue across the three-month period rose to $51.1 million, beating analyst estimates of $48.8 million and up from $28.4 million in Q4 last year.

The May 10 tiedosto indicated an appreciable swell in production – expectedly so, with the firm having recovered from several operational setbacks, including the bankruptcy of data center services provider Compute North. The now-defunct mining and infrastructure firm was one of its hosting partners. Marathon’s operational hashrate saw a 64% quarter-on-quarter growth, reaching 11.5 exahash/second (EH/s). Production increased by 74% year-over-year to a record high of 2,195 BTC. In the coming months, the North American miner plans to bring more machines online to realize a hash rate goal of 23 EH/s.

SEC:n haastekirje

Marathon’s filing for Q1 was delivered on schedule as opposed to its previous quarter’s, whose release was postponed in February. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had flagged some inaccuracies resulting from accounting errors in the calculations of impairment of digital assets and revenue from contracts with customers.

The Nevada-based firm also revealed that it was served another subpoena by the SEC, which is investigating a violation of federal securities laws. The latest order, received on April 10, follows an earlier one handed to the company at the end of syyskuu 2021 regarding the issuance of shares of common stock related to its Hardin facility. Marathon Digital said it is working together with the commission on the probe tied to its Montana-based data center.

Yhteistyö Zero Twon kanssa digitaalisen omaisuuden kaivosoperaatiossa Abu Dhabissa

In a separate statement last Tuesday, Marathon sanoi it is currently setting up the Middle East’s first-ever large-scale liquid-cooled Bitcoin mining operation in collaboration with digital asset infra firm Zero Two. Dubbed the Abu Dhabi Global Markets JV Entity, the initiative will initially focus on completing mining sites powered by excess energy in Abu Dhabi. The sites will be developed across two facilities in Abu Dhabi, potentially delivering 250 megawatts (MW) when pooled together. A smaller 50MW site will be located in the port zone of Mina Zayed, and the other in the capital’s sustainability hub, Masdar City. Ownership of the project is split 80/20 between Zero Two and Marathon, with the initial $406 million in capital contribution shared out in the same measure.

The Middle Eastern region typically experiences high temperatures, an annual average of 82 Fahrenheit (28° C), which are unideal for mining operations. The air-cooling technology popularly used to cool mining their rigs wouldn’t suffice in these high temperature and high humidity conditions. Marathon proposed immersion solution relies on liquid cooling technology, whose initial results have been promising – a notable decline in the maintenance needs of ASIC miners while maintaining optimal hash rate production. Construction is in progress, and Marathon claimed that upon completion, the facilities are poised to be the most technologically advanced, with unrivaled energy efficiency in the global digital asset mining landscape. The projected timelines are for both sites to be operational by the end of the year, realizing a combined hash rate of 7 EH/s.

Cipher Mining odottaa 20 % hashrate‑kasvua Q4:ssä

Texas-based Bitcoin miner Cipher Mining also posted an päivityksen liiketoimintansa toiminnasta in the first quarter last Tuesday. CEO Tyler Page said the company concluded the first phase of growth of its Odessa facility and achieved a self-mining capacity of over 6.0 EH/s across Q1. The miner’s realized total computing power outperformed projections of 5.7 EH/s captured in the full-year business update released in March. As of April 30, Cipher Mining operated a total of 69,500 miners. The units, powered by approximately 230 MW of electricity, deliver an aggregate hashrate capacity of around 7.0 EH/s. Of this fleet, Cipher owned 59,500 miners, roughly 6.0 EH/s hashrate.

Taloudelliset tiedot ja 7,2 EH/s tavoite Q3:n loppuun mennessä

Cipher reported a GAAP diluted net loss of $0.03 per share (down from $0.07 in Q1 2022) and realized a non-GAAP diluted net income of $0.03 per share, which means that when certain adjustments or exclusions are made, Cipher booked a profit. Regarding cost optimization, the firm continues running on sustainable agreements for its power supply. Notably, a significant portion of Cipher’s portfolio, around 96%, enjoys fixed-price power contracts, ensuring stability and predictability in their operational costs. The Nasdaq-listed miner also revealed it acquired an additional 11,000 miners from Canaan.

The newly purchased A1346 rigs will be delivered and energized in the third quarter and used to finalize the buildout at the Odessa facility, significantly bolstering the company’s self-mining capacity. The capacity is projected to reach over 7.2 EH/s, representing an increase of about 20%, by the end of Q3. To cover the payment obligations for this purchase, the company anticipates using funds generated from its ongoing operations, including the sale of Bitcoin mined at its facilities. Canaan’s A1346 model, introduced as part of the Avalon Made A13 series in October last year, comes with a robust hash rate of 110 TH/s and an impressive power efficiency of 30J/TH, pitting it as a suitable alternative to widely used ASICs like Whatsminer and Antminer.

Riot Platforms ei saavuta hashrate‑tavoitetta, kun sen tytäryhtiö riidellä Rhodiuimin

In its Q1 earnings released last Thursday, Colorado-based Riot Platforms reported quarterly sales of $48.02 million and a revenue of $73.24 million for the three-month period. The latter figure represents a slight decrease in revenues from $79.79 million a year ago.  The miner’s Q1 non-GAAP EPS stood at $0.04 against the consensus estimate of $0.17 and earnings of $0.30 per share reported in the same period last year. Bitcoin production increased year over year from 1,405 BTC in Q1 2022 to 2,115 BTC this year, attributable to the deployment of additional miners. With approx. 17,000 of its mining rigs going offline for a while in February, Riot failed to meet is target hashrate of 12.5 EH/s.

Reports surfacing on Friday indicated that Riot Platform’s Whinstone unit wants to break off some hosting agreements with its counterparty, Rhodium, due to unpaid fees totaling $26 million. Though Whinstone made the complaint public this week alongside the quarterly earnings, records show the civil case entailing breach of contract was filed on May 2 with the district court of Milam, Texas. The dispute, which named four Rhodium subsidiaries defendants, arises from participation in demand response programs in Texas. Whistone alleges that Rhodium intentionally misreported the hosting fees it owes for hosting services provided between 2021 and Q1 2023. Riot’s subsidiary alleged it is owed 26 million in hosting fees and separately asked to be relieved of refunding any credits since Rhodium’s units amassed power credits they didn’t have rights to during the period.

Hut 8:n Q1:n neljännesvuosituotanto ja liikevaihtoluvut kärsivät

Canadian mining firm Hut 8 reported revenue of $14.16 million in Q1 – a notable decline from $42 million in Q1 2022.  The company attributed the decline to “electrical issues, equipment failures, fluctuating energy prices and increased network difficulty”. The operating and financial results also indicated that it mined 475 BTC, roughly half the production figure for Q1 2022.

“Lähestyessämme puolittumista, jatkamme strategista Bitcoin-varastomme kasvattamista ja HPC-liiketoimintamme laajentamista, mukaan lukien mahdollisuuksien tutkiminen kasvavalla tekoälymarkkinalla,” CEO Jaime Leverton remarked on the miner’s preparation ahead of the event. “Odotamme, että ehdotettu liiketoimintayhdistyksemme USBTC […] erottaa meidät positiivisesti puhtaasti digitaalista omaisuutta kaivostyöläisiä, jotka puolittumisen jälkeen todennäköisesti altistuvat heikentyville tuotoille, joita ohjaa kasvava globaali hashrate ja lisäkilpailu suvereeneilta valtioilta sekä hyvin rahoitetuilta uusilta tulokkailta.”

Leverton vahvisti, että Drumheller-sivuston kunnostus, joka tällä hetkellä toimii noin 15 % asennetusta hashratesta, on ollut käynnissä maaliskuusta lähtien, ja odotetaan laitoksen saavan käyttöön 10–12 viikon sisällä. Sen Medicine Hat -laitos asetti ennätyskorkean operatiivisen tason 1,72 EH/s, kun taas kokonaisasennettu hashrate (pois lukien North Bay -laitoksen toiminta) pysyi lähes muuttumattomana 2,6 EH/s verrattuna edelliseen neljännekseen.  Hut 8 raportoi erikseen raportoi tuotannostaan ja operatiivisesta suorituskyvystään huhtikuussa viime tiistaina, paljastaen, että se louhitti 132 BTC.

Hut 8 pitää edelleen HODL-tilassa itsekaivostaan Bitcoin-varastoaan, joka oli 30. huhtikuuta 9 265 BTC, suurin varanto kaikista julkisesti noteeratuista kaivostyöläisistä. Haasteista huolimatta Hut 8 keskittyy edelleen sopimuksen tekemiseen US Bitcoinin kanssa, mikä laajentaa sen kokonaisproduktiota 7,02 EH/s:iin ja tarjoaa pääsyn uusiin energiamarkkinoihin. Hut 8 tutkii myös mahdollisuuksia operatiivistaa noin 7 000 kaivostyöläistä, jotka aiemmin poistettiin North Bay, Ontario -sivustolta. Merkittävää on, että 1 000 rigiä tästä erästä otettiin käyttöön Medicine Hat -laitoksessa maaliskuussa.

Muut: Stronghold, Hive and CleanSpark

Stronghold Digital missed expectations per its Q1 financial and operational tuloksissa, reporting a net loss of $28.5 million and a revenue of $17.3 million, translating to a 25% slump from Q4 in 2022. Through the three months, the company mined BTC – a 38% increase in production compared to Q4 of 2022, when it reported mining 447 BTC. Stronghold’s total hashrate stood at 2.8 EH/s, contributed to by a fleet of more than 31,000 mining units as of May 8. The company plans to grow this figure to over 3.8 EH/s and has set a target of 4 EH/s to be realized by the end of the third quarter.

Canadian miner Hive blockchain separately detailed in a Friday lehdistötiedotteessa plans to increase its computing power by roughly double to 6 EH/s but didn’t provide a timeline. The mining firm first aims to realize a hashrate capacity of 4 EH/s by the end of the second quarter, having already acquired 1.26 EH/s of new-generation machines. The overall growth will be funded by an at-the-market (ATM) sale through which it intends to sell up to $100 million in common shares. Hive’s projections calculated the cost of realizing one exahash BTC mining computing power to $30 million. The shares sale offering is thus expected to add at least 3 EH/s.

CleanSpark, on the other hand, took a net loss of $0.23 per share from continuing operations, per its Q1 earnings which represent the company’s second fiscal quarter of 2023. The reported net loss per share figure is roughly half the previous quarter’s figure and better than estimates of $0.32 from FactSet. The Nevada-based miner has acquired all the machines necessary to meet its vuoden lopun tavoitteeseen 16 EH/s in computing capacity, mostly Bitmain Antminer XPs. CEO Zach Bradford remarked on the purchase, explaining that it positions the company in good stead to take advantage of the upcoming Bitcoin halving.

Bitcoin-kaivostyön osakekehitys

Marathon Digital (MARA) stock closed at $8.92 on Friday and was pictured at $9.32 in Monday’s premarket hours. MARA stock price is down 22% in the last one month, slightly underperforming compared to Bitcoin but in a similar range to fellow peers like Cipher Mining (CIFR). Riot Platform (RIOT), HIVE Blockchain (HIVE), and Hut 8 (HUT) have retraced between 17% and 29% during this period.

Vuoden alusta (YTD) CIFR on kasvanut 228 %, perustuen 12. toukokuuta suljettuun markkinahintaan, ja RIOT:n osakkeet nousivat 214 %. Marathonin osakekurssi, yksi harvoista suurista kaivostyöläisistä, jotka ylläpitävät omaa poolia, on noussut 162 %, kun taas HUT- ja HIVE-osakkeet ovat saavuttaneet kunnioitettavat tuotot 109 % ja 88 % vastaavasti. CleanSpark (CLSK) -osake on noussut 25 % tässä kuussa ja on noussut 113 % tähän mennessä tänä vuonna. Kaiken kaikkiaan vain Riot (RIOT) ja Cipher Mining (CIFR) vertaisryhmän joukossa ovat vihreällä laajennetulla 12‑kuukausisella aikavälillä.