BT Daily News: Aspen Creek Digital and Compass Mining to Host Thousands of Bitcoin Mining Rigs at Texas Solar Farm
1. Aspen Creek Digital and Compass Mining to Host Thousands of Bitcoin Mining Rigs at Texas Solar Farm
According to the bitcoin mining company Aspen Creek Digital Corporation (ACDC), the firm’s second HPCC has started operations in Texas. ACDC and Compass will be collaborating at the facility, as Compass plans to host 27 MW of capacity or about 9,000 Bitmain-crafted application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) bitcoin miners. The Texas-based HPCC is ACDC’s second bitcoin mining data center, as it operates a 6 MW facility tied to a solar farm in west Colorado.
In September, ACDC raised $8 million in a Series A financing round that was led by Galaxy Digital and Polychain Capital. ACDC’s announcement on Wednesday details that the Texas HPCC is a 30 MW site. The facility can host 10,000 ASIC bitcoin miners tethered to an 87 MW solar farm. The company detailed on Wednesday that the bitcoin miner has a third project in the works that is capable of 150 MW of capacity co-located with a 200 MW solar farm.
The third HPCC will be “operational by mid-2023,” ACDC explained. “Our mission is to create a sustainable source of renewable energy to power our operations and put renewables back on the grid,” the CEO of ACDC, Alexandra DaCosta, said in a statement. “We’re thrilled to partner with Compass Mining to expand access to renewably powered bitcoin mining,” the ACDC executive added.
2. Bitcoin Miner CleanSpark Hikes 2022 Hashrate Guidance by 10%
“Our hashrate growth over the last few months has been helped along with the acquisition of the Washington and Sandersville facilities, but that only tells part of the story,” said CleanSpark CEO Zach Bradford in a statement. “This milestone reflects operational prowess and efficiency gains that I believe are unmatched in our industry."With much of the mining industry struggling mightily under the weight of the bitcoin bear market, CleanSpark has been among those taking advantage by acquiring operations and assets at discounted prices.
Most recently, CleanSpark bought competitor Mawson Infrastructure Group’s (MIGI) mining facility in Sandersville, Georgia, and 6,468 latest-generation mining rigs for up to $42.5 million. The company also purchased 10,000 new Bitmain Antminer S19j Pros for $28 million – a significant markdown from the manufacturer's listed price.
3. Argentina’s State-Owned Energy Company Moves into Crypto Mining
The Southern Argentina project located in Vaca Muerta is well known for its vast oil and gas resources. It is one of the largest oil fields in the nation.The CEO Mandarano said- “We started to develop this generation pilot for cryptocurrency mining with a vision of sustainability and business from flare natural gas, which cannot be harnessed during exploration and at the beginning of the production of an oil field”
YPF Luz is at present supplying power of 1 megawatt to the crypto mining companies. Also, the firm is planning to launch another project which will contribute eight times greater before the end of the recent year. The upcoming project will be operated in the Bajo Del Taro.
YPF Luz thought of converting their waste into electrical energy which can be used in the process of crypto mining. Crusoe Energy, which is a United States based company, helped using its wasted natural gas as a power source resulting in advancement of crypto mining.
4. What does the global energy crisis mean for crypto markets?
There’s no denying that the world is currently facing an unprecedented energy crisis, one that has compounded severely in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic so much so that countries across the globe — especially across Europe and North America — are witnessing severe shortages and steep spikes in the price of oil, gas and electricity.From the outside looking in, increased energy prices will raise costs for miners, which in turn could force them to sell their held Bitcoin, thereby pushing down prices. Furthermore, heightened production can result in miners demanding higher prices to cover their daily operational costs and, in some cases, even forcing them to shut down their operations entirely or sell their equipment.
Also, even if miners continue to go out of business, the total volume of BTC being mined will remain the same. However, the block rewards will be distributed among fewer individuals. This suggests that miners who can stave off the bearish pressure induced by rising energy costs stand to make massive profits. Andrew Weiner, vice president for cryptocurrency exchange MEXC told:
“Electricity shortages can lead to higher electricity prices, raising the cost of Bitcoin mining substantially. In the event of a regional long-term power shortage, it will cause the migration of miners to other jurisdictions where relatively cheap electricity prices offer safety and stability.”
5. China Market Update: Crypto is NOT prohibited in China
The reasons why cryptocurrencies are so popular in China are obvious: a repressive government, strict capital controls, and massive state surveillance. All of these drives the demand for immutable, privacy-focused, and freely transferable assets.A Chinese friend and formerly Bitcoin-Miner told me a long time ago:
“Chinese buy crypto because there is no other way to protect our assets. Everyone also knows that the stock market in China is manipulated and inefficient, and property prices are already immensely high. How else can we invest and hope to create wealth for ourselves?”However, creating wealth for its citizens is certainly not the main reason why China has long (semi) tolerated cryptocurrencies. The main goal of the government has always been to remain in control while remaining open to new, promising technologies. As Kai von Carnap, an analyst at Europe’s largest China think tank, explains: “The government is happy to receive all of the ‘free’ expertise in cryptocurrency and blockchain-related areas, while keeping her huge number of engineers busy.” Indeed, someone programming on Ethereum today might as well switch to government initiatives like China’s BSN (Blockchain Service Network) or write smart contracts for the e-CNY.
This means that cryptocurrencies in China never really had a chance to be legalized. But it also means there is no reason for the government to ban them completely. Rather, the authorities have opted for a repeated crackdown approach to keep the mass of the population away from such undesirable activities. At the same time, they allow some people to play along as long as they do not get involved in fraudulent activities or money laundering.