Bitcoin (BTC) mining company Bitfarms will invest nearly $240 million to upgrade its Bitcoin mining equipment as it aims to remain profitable after the Bitcoin halving in 2024.
Bitfarms’ prep work for the Bitcoin halving revolves around performance and profitability. Speaking to Cointelegraph, Bitfarms chief financial officer Jeffrey Lucas laid out the firm’s drive to procure 88,000 highly efficient Bitcoin miners.
Bitfarms previously purchased 35,888 of Bitmain’s Bitcoin Miner T21. Other efforts include exercising a purchase option to acquire an additional 28,000 T21 miners and further purchases of 19,280 Bitmain T21 miners, 3,888 Bitmain S21 miners and 740 Bitmain S21 hydro miners.
Bitfarms earned 286 BTC through mining in March 2024, with a monthly operating hash rate of 6.5 exahashes per second (EH/s).
In March 2023, the firm mined 424 BTC with 4.8 EH/s — indicating the importance of increasing hash rate capacity to stay profitable in Bitcoin mining.
Bitfarms sold nearly all the Bitcoin it mined over the past two months as it continues to reinvest into growing its mining fleet. Lucas explained the implications of the fleet upgrade:
“The transformational fleet upgrade propels Bitfarms in scale and profitability amid the Bitcoin halving. This is a game changer that triples our hash rate to 21 EH/s, increases our targeted operating capacity by 83% to 440 megawatts (MW), and improves fleet efficiency by 40% to 21 w/TH.”
Bitfarms holds $66 million in cash and 806 BTC in its treasury, worth $56.7 million at a BTC price of $70,400 as of March 31, giving it a total liquidity of $123 million.
“The success of our upgrade program rests on our proven ability to utilize our operational expertise to achieve industry-leading performance and profitability,” Lucas concluded.
Check out Cointelegraph’s beginner’s guide to learn more about Bitcoin mining.
Related: Wall Street funding has changed Bitcoin mining’s incentive structure: Report
Texas-based Bitcoin miner Giga Energy recently expanded its operations into Argentina to utilize wasted energy from “natural gas flaring” on the South American nation’s oil fields.
Gas flaring is the burning of the natural gas associated with oil extraction. Methane is released as part of the process, which Giga then converts into electricity to power its Bitcoin mining rigs.
However, the firm doesn’t expect to turn a profit as it still awaits the importation of all necessary equipment to scale its mining operations in the region fully.
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