BT Daily News: More Bitcoin Than Ever Is Now ‘Dormant’—Here’s What That Means

by CHarvey April 13, 2023

1. More Bitcoin Than Ever Is Now ‘Dormant’—Here’s What That Means

Even as Bitcoin surges to levels not seen in months, HODLing will never go out of style.

More than half of the coins in existence have not moved in over two years, according to recent figures—a new all-time high.

Blockchain data firm Glassnode told Decrypt that the amount of Bitcoin which last moved more than two years ago currently stands at 53.14%.

That means 10.2 million Bitcoin is sitting still—roughly $309 billion-worth of satoshis. A total of 19.3 million Bitcoins have been mined since the cryptocurrency came into existence.

Arkham Intelligence CEO Miguel Morel told Decrypt that dormant coins often find their way back into circulation over time.

“Coins have organically transferred from those with high-time and liquidity preference to those with low-time and liquidity preference,” Morel said. "Through all the shake-ups, for every seller there’s a buyer."

Ancient Bitcoin stashes have been known to move, with “whales”—those who’ve hoarded huge amounts of cryptocurrency, making absurd returns—moving their investment to other addresses.

Still, Glassnode has previously said that investors are less likely to spend coins after 155 days. And data has previously shown that those who actually make money buying the oldest cryptocurrency are “sophisticated investors” who sit on large amounts for a long time—while the retail investor is likely to lose out.

"Sometimes those coins never come back into the market," Morel added.

Bitcoin that sits still for a long time can also be attributed to lost coins: a common problem for amateur investors is forgetting the private keys to their digital wallet.

The latest data points come as the largest cryptocurrency by market cap soars in value: Bitcoin last night hit the $30,000 mark for the first time in 10 months; now it is trading for $30,229, according to CoinGecko.

At the start of the year, the asset was priced well below $20,000—trading hands for as low as $16,615.

Investors are clearly hoping that their investment will swell the longer they sit on it.

2. Bitcoin Miner Bitdeer Technologies to List on Nasdaq via SPAC Deal

According to a recent filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Bitdeer Technologies Holdings, a digital mining firm founded by crypto-billionaire Jihan Wu in 2018, plans to be listed on Nasdaq this Friday. The bitcoin mining firm is scheduled to go public through a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) deal with Blue Safari Group, as noted in the business combination filing.

Bitdeer to Be Publicly Listed on Nasdaq Under the Ticker Symbol BTDR
A Singaporean company, Bitdeer Technologies Holdings, founded in 2018 by former Bitmain CEO Jihan Wu, plans to go public and be listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange on April 14, 2023, according to a recently published filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm will use the ticker symbol “BTDR.” Bitdeer operates mining farms in Europe and North America and has strategic partnerships with mining pools including Btc.com, Viabtc, Foundry USA, Antpool, F2pool, and Btc.top.

In September of last year, Bitdeer established a $250 million fund to purchase assets from distressed bitcoin miners. Also in September, the company acquired Singapore’s Le Freeport storage facility, also known as “Singapore’s Fort Knox.” According to the latest filing with the SEC, the company has reached a SPAC deal with Blue Safari Group. Shareholders of Blue Safari approved the deal at an extraordinary general meeting on April 11, 2023.

“Today marks a significant milestone for Bitdeer, leaving us poised to list on the Nasdaq and equipped to seize the growth opportunities ahead of us,” Linghui Kong, the CEO of Bitdeer said in a statement. “I am incredibly proud of what we have achieved so far, and look forward to embarking on the next chapter of our journey. We are already a leading hash rate supplier, and our public listing will allow us to make even greater contributions to the crypto economy.”

Since 2021, publicly listed bitcoin mining companies have become a fixture on traditional stock exchanges. However, many of these firms experienced significant declines in their shares during 2022. In contrast, 2023 has been a better year for bitcoin mining companies, as the price of bitcoin (BTC) has risen 80% since the last day of December and 36.3% over the last 30 days. Over the past week, shares of publicly listed bitcoin mining firms such as Riot Blockchain, Bitfarms, Marathon Digital, and Cleanspark have increased in value against the U.S. dollar.

3. CLEANSPARK TO NEARLY DOUBLE BITCOIN MINING CAPACITY WITH $144.9M ANTMINER PURCHASE

CleanSpark Inc., a public Bitcoin mining company, has announced its purchase of 45,000 brand-new units of the Antminer S19 XP bitcoin mining machines, at a cost of $144.9 million. The company expects all units to be delivered by the manufacturer by the end of September, with a 95% increase in computing power once deployed according to a press release sent to Bitcoin Magazine.

CleanSpark has approximately 15.9 EH/s of machines on hand or under contract for delivery this year, edging closer to its year-end guidance of 16 EH/s. The company will deploy all of the acquired units at its bitcoin mining facility in Sandersville, Georgia, which is currently undergoing a planned 150 MW expansion. The machines will be deployed in multiple batches as they arrive on site and new rack-space becomes available, with all machines expected to be fully operational before year-end.

Zach Bradford, CEO of CleanSpark, stated, “As bitcoin’s halving draws closer, our focus on operational efficiency, our technical expertise, and our treasury management strategy, will all play a crucial role in solidifying CleanSpark’s position among the top bitcoin mining companies in America.” Gary Vecchiarelli, CleanSpark’s CFO, added, “Securing XPs at these prices means we have one less variable in our capital expenditure equation and puts us well on our way to achieving our year-end guidance of 16 EH/s.”

According to the press release, CleanSpark predominantly mines bitcoin with low-carbon energy sources, which account for over 90% of its energy mix, and the company follows what it describes as a “balanced capital management strategy” by selling some of its mined bitcoin to reinvest in growth.

This most recent miner purchase is in addition to a 20,000 machine purchase announced in February, with those machines fully paid for and in the process of being delivered to the company’s Washington facility. They are expected to be energized later this quarter, according to the press release, adding an additional 2.44 EH/s of machines to CleanSpark’s operational hashrate.