HIVE Blockchain Technologies, a TSX.V-listed company based in Vancouver, announced today that 750 new Bitmain S17+ Antminer machines are now operational at its recently acquired Bitcoin mining operation in Quebec.
HIVE owns digital currency mining facilities in Canada, Sweden, and Iceland which produce newly minted digital currencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum continuously.
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The total number of machines utilizing green power to mine Bitcoin at the facility is now approximately 14,750.
The new S17+s have increased the Company’s SHA 256 Bitcoin mining computing power by approximately a third to 229 Petahashes per second (PH/s), according to HIVE. The company expects this computing capacity to increase in the near future following the acquisition of additional new machines.
As previously announced by HIVE, in preparation for the halving of Bitcoin rewards anticipated today, the firm is planning to invest at least C$3 million in next generation SHA 256 Bitcoin mining equipment. The cost for these 750 new machines was approximately US$1,425 per unit, or just over US$1 million, financed through the Company’s net cash.
“The halving of Bitcoin rewards effectively cuts in half the diminishing finite supply of newly minted Bitcoin, and is an important milestone for the network,” Frank Holmes, interim executive chairman of HIVE, said in a statement.
“Bitcoin rewards for miners have halved twice previously, in 2012 and 2016, when the price of Bitcoin was approximately $12 and $650 respectively, and prices rose significantly in the ensuing 18 months. Naturally past performance is no guarantee that previous cycles will repeat themselves, therefore we have been preparing for the halving through the acquisition of our own low cost Bitcoin mining operation in April and subsequent investment in high efficiency computing equipment to both increase the operational efficiency of our Quebec facility and maximize use of its existing 30 megawatt power capacity,” he added.
HIVE recently commenced Bitcoin mining at its 30 megawatt (MW) green energy-powered cryptocurrency operation in Quebec (the “Facility”), the acquisition of which was completed and announced in April.
Covid-19 response
HIVE said that it has enacted various measures to protect its employees and partners and prevent disruption to operations as a result of Covid-19, in alignment with local governments as well as national and international agency recommendations. The company has reduced staff on site at its locations through aggressive work at home policies; however, it has been able to maintain full uptime of its cryptocurrency mining operations and its data centres and supply chain continue to operate with only minimal disruption.
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