Canadian mining giant Hut 8 is ramping up its production capabilities and now wants to hold 5,000 self-mined BTC by the end of 2021. The company is being buoyed by favorable winds, with the forced exodus of many miners based in China and its recent successful entry on the NASDAQ.
Closing the year with 5,000 BTC
Toronto-based mining company Hut 8 shares, in a June 28, 2021 statement, its ambitions to hold 5,000 self-mined BTC by the end of 2021, based on its ability to increase its hash rate by 400% to “2.5 to 3.0 EH (exa-hash) by the end of 2021 and to about 6 EH by mid-2022.”
This mining giant already holds 3,806 BTC and therefore plans to increase its current stockpile by 31%. Note that Hut 8 is one of the largest publicly traded bitcoin mining companies, alongside Marathon Digital Holdings, Riot and Hive Blockchain.
HUT 8 CEO Jaime Leverton estimates that the “ongoing installation of new equipment” will allow his company to produce an additional 2 to 3 BTC daily by the end of August 2021. The company currently delivers 1.2 EH hash power, and extracts “6.2 to 7.3 BTC per day.”
A favorable context supported by sufficient funds
The crackdown by the Chinese authorities on miners operating in the country should help Hut 8 achieve its goals. Indeed, the significant drop in hashrate that followed is a boon for mining operations that continue to operate normally. As a result, the company has planned for a decrease in mining difficulty of up to 20% on July 1, 2021.
Hut 8 also has significant funds recently acquired following its listing on the NASDAQ on June 15 to implement its development plans. The public offering netted the company more than $93 million in gross proceeds. These funds will be used to finance investments with Nvidia for mining processors, but also those with MicroBT, and investments with Validus Power to meet the energy needs of Hut 8’s production units.
China is shaking up the cryptocurrency mining sector, even forcing Bitmain to make a radical decision to influence the price of second-hand devices. American miners, on the other hand, can thank the Chinese authorities for offering them a windfall, pending a return to normalcy of the difficulty of bitcoin mining.
