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The First Crypto Miner ETF Unveils in Australia

Australian Bitcoin miner Iris Energy applies for an initial public offering (IPO) on the Nasdaq. The stock code is “IREN”. Reportedly, $100 million has been raised.

In this transaction, JPMorgan Chase, Canaccord Genuity, Citigroup, Macquarie Capital, and Cowen jointly acted as “book-runners”. It is expected that the stock will officially begin to be traded to the public later this year.

Cryptocurrency mining machine providers from Australia have begun to move towards the world, seeking more investors’ attention.

A local exchange in Australia also lists a new crypto-miner ETF for the first time on Thursday, aiming to track well-known miners and infrastructure providers worldwide.

According to Bloomberg News, the crypto miner ETF is called Cosmos Global Digital Miners Access ETF (stock code: DIGA). Its constituent stocks include Marathon Digital Holdings Inc., Riot Blockchain Inc., Hive Blockchain Technologies Ltd., and Hut 8 Mining Corp. are waiting for the company.

The investment in the Cosmos Global Digital Miners Access ETF will begin trading on the Chi-X Australia exchange. Investors who invest in this ETF will not directly hold cryptocurrencies.

More and more crypto miners are seeking more efficient development in the global digital asset product boom.

As reported by Blockchain.News on October 26, Missouri-based energy generation company Ameren Corp unveiled its secret Bitcoin mining operations near the Sioux Energy Center in the state.

Bitcoin Miners Generated Revenue Worth $1.68 Billion in November

After surging to $59K, Bitcoin (BTC) retraced to the $56,000 level in a couple of hours. The leading cryptocurrency was hovering around $56,693 during intraday trading, according to CoinMarketCap.

Nevertheless, November was a good month for Bitcoin miners because they cashed in a whopping $1.68 billion. On-chain analyst Dylan LeClair confirmed:

“Bitcoin miners generated $1.688 billion (27,760 BTC) worth of revenue during the month of November.”

A trend change has also been experienced since 2020 because BTC miners have transformed into hodlers and buyers. For instance, crypto mining company Bitfarms is holding 96% of Bitcoin generated in 2021. The firm acknowledged:

“Bitfarms mined over 3,000 Bitcoin in 2021 through November and increased hash rate 300 Petahash to 2.1 Exahash.”

This behavioural change might have been prompted by unprecedented factors like crypto mining being unwelcome on Chinese soil since May.

Bitcoin faces notable resistance between the $60K and $62K level

According to data analytic firm IntoTheBlock:

“BTC breaks the $59,000 level again. But where are the next key levels of resistance? On its path back to ATH, Bitcoin now faces the biggest level of on-chain resistance. Between $60.67K and $62.35K, 1.22 million addresses previously bought 608.25K BTC.”

Even if this level is broken, Bitcoin still faces resistance just below $63,000 because 423,000 BTC were acquired, and this might act as a major point for sellers before new highs are aimed, IntoTheBlock said.

On the other hand, the Fear and Greed Indicator is still showing high levels of fear for Bitcoin in the 3-day time frame, according to market analyst Matthew Hyland.

High fear levels usually trigger more capitulation because coins are transferred from weak to strong hands, prompting a new support area over time.

This can be acknowledged by the fact that Bitcoin supply held by entities with one to ten BTC recently reached historic highs of 1,649,369 BTC.

Image source: Shuttstock

Marathon Digital Shares Filing Details of its Purchased Miners and Cost

American Bitcoin mining firm, Marathon Digital disclosed that it has ordered a total of 78,000 Antminer S19 XP from Bitmain Technologies in a bid to advance its position as a leading miner in the space.

According to a recent filing made with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Marathon Digital said the miners cost approximately $879 million, a fund that is billed to be paid in three instalments.

The company expects to receive the miners starting from July next year through December. As reported, a total of 13,000 miners is projected to be delivered each month beginning in the second half of the year.

Per the filing, Marathon Digital said it inked a partnership with

“Bitmain to purchase an additional 78,000 next-generation Antminer S-19 XP Miners, with 13,000 units being delivered in each of July 2022, August 2022, September 2022, October 2022, November 2022, and December 2022. The purchase price is $879,060,000. The purchase price for the miners shall be paid as follows: 35% of the total amount within two days of execution of the purchase contract, 35% of each single shipment price at least six months prior to each such shipment, and the remaining 30% of each single shipment price at least one month prior to each such shipment.”

The latest expected shipments will increase the company’s fleet to 199,000 by early 2023 when all of the miners become operational. This positive infrastructural growth is known to have a positive impact on the company’s shares which recently soared to a 6-month high as reported by Blockchain.News.

The company has explored several fundraising measures to strengthen its balance sheet in pursuit of the latest acquisitions. While the firm secured a $100 million credit line from Silvergate Bank back in October this year, it also raised $500 million in Senior Convertible Notes a month later. These bold moves by the company are all centred towards cutting a significant piece of the remaining 10% of the BTC total supply yet to be mined.

Maple Finance Loans $300m to help Struggling Bitcoin Miners

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Maple Finance, Australia-based Decentralized finance (DeFi) firm for institutions to borrow from Liquidity Pools funded by the DeFi ecosystem, announced on Tuesday that it has launched a $300 million fund for Bitcoin miners.

The lender established the move as the cryptocurrency mining industry struggles with access to capital markets. Raising capital has become difficult for crypto mining companies this year as Bitcoin price has drastically declined and energy prices have skyrocketed. Maple is looking to fill the gap.

In a statement, Sidney Powell, the CEO and co-founder of Maple, said: “Recent market headwinds have caused lenders to pull back, while traditional financing vehicles have been slower to engage this sector. Miners play an essential role in growing the crypto ecosystem and local economies, and we are proud to extend a new financing vehicle to direct capital where it is needed the most.”

Maple said that the $300 million lending pool will provide 12 to 18 months loans with interest rates ranging from 15% to 20% to blue-chip Bitcoin mining and digital asset infrastructure firms in North America, Canada, and Australia.

The $300 million lending pool is targeting to lend out funds to blue chip private and public firms with “effective treasury management and prudent power strategies,” Maple said. The pool will only offer fully collateralized loans, either by digital assets or real-world assets, including mining hardware, power transformers, and other physical assets.

Maple plans to open more lending pools for the growing mining sector and expects to expand its lending services to fintech firms.

When Will Miners Recover from Crash?

Many Bitcoin mining firms that expanded operations last year to capture more profits are now struggling as the crypto’s prices plunged.

The recent market crash has left miners going through a painful situation. Mining Bitcoin has become less profitable as the price of the cryptocurrency has nosedived, with popular machines like Bitmain’s Antminer S9 becoming money losers amid increased electricity costs.

Many miners have been cornered into powering off their operations or selling their holdings, while some are struggling to repay billions of loans that are backed by their equipment.

Struggling miners who preferred not to shut down their rigs were approved to raise capital in the debt or equity markets and/or sell off Bitcoin holdings.

In July, several miners, such as Argo Blockchain, Bitfarms, Core Scientific, and Riot Blockchain, among others, sold part of their Bitcoin holdings to secure funds designed to sustain their operations.

Last month, Bitcoin mining hosting firm Applied Blockchain secured a $15 million loan to pay off its existing debt and fund the construction of its data centres.

The crypto market recently went through an extreme crash in May and still has not come out of it. Major cryptocurrencies went through price drops, with Bitcoin plunging its price by more than half.

Crypto Miner Merkle Increases Hash Rate 9x to 3.1EH/s in 8 Months

Bitcoin miner Merkle Standard has formed a joint venture with Bitmain, one of the world’s largest Bitcoin mining equipment manufacturers, to increase its total computing power, or hash rate, from about 0.3 EH/s to 3.1 exahash ( EH/s). With the partnership, the computing power is increased by 900%.

Merkle revealed that it has added 40 megawatts (MW) of mining capacity to its South Carolina facility, bringing its total mining capacity to 140 MW.

The company said that the machines that will be used are Bitmain’s latest mining rigs, the S19 XP Mining Bitcoin (BTC), or S19J Pro models, which are among the most energy-efficient bitcoin mining machines on the market.

The site has exclusive rights to an additional 50 megawatts of electricity, allowing the site to expand to 86 megawatts

The site, Merkle’s main mine in eastern Washington, currently has 100MW of online power generation and is expected to reach 225MW by the end of 2023, with a maximum expansion capacity of 500MW.

The Blue Ridge base in South Carolina is Merkle’s second facility, which the company said it expects to expand to 80MW of mining capacity by the end of 2024.

January 21, 2022: Merkle Standard, a sustainable digital asset mining platform, announced a purchase order for new mining machines from Bitmain Technologies Ltd. The executed purchase agreement is for 13,500 mining rigs from a leading ASIC mining manufacturer.

As Bitcoin’s value plummeted 45 percent in June, many mining companies have gone to great lengths to adjust their operations; some are buying mining equipment, others are suspending mine construction, and still, others are expanding projects.

In June, Bitfarms sold 1,500 bitcoins for about $62 million and used the proceeds to reduce debt.

In July, CleanSpark continued to expand its infrastructure by acquiring 1,061 Whatsminer M30S rigs at a deep discount.

Binance Launches $500M Fund for Distressed Bitcoin Miners

Private and publicly-listed bitcoin miners can now apply for loans with Binance, as the cryptocurrency exchange launched a $500 million fund on October 14 for miners unable to cope with the ongoing downturn of the crypto-market conditions.

Bitcoin miners applying for loans with Binance Pool – the company’s mining service – must pledge security to obtain loans for 18 to 24 months. Securities can be in the form of physical or digital assets.

Bitcoin’s fund for miners has followed in the footsteps of Chinese crypto billionaire Jihan Wu, the founder of Bitmain, who set up a $250 million fund to buy distressed assets from bitcoin miners last month.

Wu’s Bitdeer Technologies Holding Co has planned to invest $50 million from its own fund. Following this, Wu is planning to raise an additional $200 million from external investors.

Binance’s initiative has come as bitcoin miners have experienced tough times in the past few months, with the price of bitcoin falling too deep lows. Along with that, the revenue of these miners has also declined drastically. Bitcoin mining firm Compute North has already filed for bankruptcy.

According to various sources, their revenue fell to about 16.2% or $550.5 million last month. The crash was the fifth decline in the last six months and the lowest total since November 2020.

Another crypto firm also launched a similar fund earlier this month for distressed crypto miners. Crypto asset manager Grayscale opened a new entity named Grayscale Digital Infrastructure Opportunities LLC to invest in Bitcoin mining hardware.

The new entity has planned to purchase mining rigs and make revenue by selling the bitcoins earned through the gear.

In another major development for the crypto exchange company, the Binance (BNB) Chain has successfully eliminated approximately 2,065,152.42 BNB or $548 million worth of BNB following its quarterly on Oct 14, 2022.

The move has left the market relatively unaffected, according to Blockchain.News.

The exchange platform also stated that an added 4,833.25 BNB was part of the burn through its Pioneer Burn Program – a burning program that favours those who genuinely lost their digital assets.

Binance takes responsibility for these losses in the Pioneer Burn Program by deducting tokens (lost by users through honest mistakes) in the quarterly burn and then refunding the users depending on some specific conditions.

Generate Capital to Purchase Bankrupt Compute North's Assets in 2 Mining Sites

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According to bankruptcy filings on Tuesday, lending firm Generate Capital is purchasing Bitcoin mining hosting firm Compute North’s stake in two mega-mining facilities (a 300-megawatt (MW) facility in Wolf Hollow, Texas, and a 100 MW one in Kearny, Nebraska) for $5 million.

A U.S. Bankruptcy judge in the Southern District of Texas signed the order approving the sale of Compute North’s stake in the two mining facilities.

According to the purchase agreement, Generate Capital was the only bidder for Compute North’s equity, and the court approved the sale on Tuesday.

As part of the sale, Generate Capital is fully purchasing Compute North’s sites for $5 million and will assume the liabilities as well as obligations to clients that host their machines at the sites.

In late September, Compute North became the latest casualty of the bear market and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, saying it can’t fulfil debt obligations worth up to $500 million.

In its bankruptcy filing, Compute North blamed its financial woes on this year’s bear market, the rising cost of electricity in the U.S. and the time it takes between constructing two new data centres and becoming profitable.

The biggest blow came from a loan that the Bitcoin miner secured from Generate Capital. In February, Generate Capital lent Compute North $300 million to finance the development of the two sites in Texas and Nebraska.

While Compute North was able to repay some of the funds, about a third of it was still outstanding as it defaulted payments.

In July, in bids to recover its money, Generate Capital took over some of Compute North’s assets, including two of the sites that its finance had gone towards construction purposes.

Generate Capital’s move to take control of Compute North assets triggered the Bitcoin miner’s chapter 11 bankruptcy in late September.

The Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing protected the Bitcoin miner from its creditors while allowing it to continue operations. This has given it enough breathing space to figure out a way to repay its creditors without having to be auctioned off.

NY Business Examines Core Scientific Securities Fraud

A legal company located in New York has said that it has initiated an inquiry into whether or not Bitcoin miner Core Scientific and its leadership may have possibly participated in securities fraud and other criminal business activities that led to many instances of its stock price plummeting.

According to the securities class action firm Pomerantz LLP, the investigation was prompted by a report from Culper Research in 2022. The report alleged that Core Scientific had vastly oversold its mining and hosting businesses in 2021 and also waived a 180-day lockup period of over 282 million shares, making them free to be dumped in March. Together, these allegations suggested that Core Scientific was responsible for triggering the investigation.

To this report, the insiders at Core Scientific had “abandoned all pretense of compassion for minority shareholders.” It was noted that as a result of this revelation, the share price of Core Scientific plummeted by 9.4 percent on March 3.

In addition, the law firm brought attention to an event that took place on September 28. That day, cryptocurrency lender Celsius Network submitted a motion to the bankruptcy court, accusing Core Scientific of violating the automatic stay provisions, adding improper surcharges, and failing to meet its contractual obligations.

In a final incident, the law firm said on October 27, Core Scientific announced that given the uncertainty regarding the Company’s financial condition, substantial doubt exists about the Company’s ability to continue, and it revealed that it held only 24 Bitcoin compared to 1,051 BTC on September 30. The law firm said this was the final incident.

Based on the company, the stock price of Core Scientific plummeted as a result of the announcement, reaching a closing price of $0.22 per share, representing a decrease of 78.1%.

Pomerantz LLP has said that it is exploring these allegations on behalf of Core Scientific investors and has extended an invitation to any such investors who want to participate in a future class action lawsuit.

On December 13, the same law firm filed a class-action lawsuit against Silvergate Capital for making materially false and/or misleading statements and failing to disclose material adverse facts about the Company’s business, operations, and prospects. The lawsuit alleges that Silvergate Capital made materially false and/or misleading statements and failed to disclose material adverse facts.