Eliza Gkritsi
Eliza Gkritsi is CoinDesk's crypto mining reporter based in Asia.
Canadian crypto miner Hut 8 has added 5,800 bitcoin mining rigs to its fleet and will continue to hold onto all the crypto it produces, even as other miners sell their tokens to cover operating costs.
- The new miners at Hut 8's North Bay site in Ontario were operating on 20 megawatts (MW) of power as of June 30, the company said in a Wednesday statement. Its total operating capacity in computing power was 2.78 exahash/second (EH/s).
- The company mined 328 bitcoins during June, increasing its holdings to 7,406 BTC ($148 million).
- Hut 8 will continue to hold its mined bitcoin, while other miners are selling to pay for running expenses and loan obligations. On Tuesday, Core Scientific, one of the biggest miners by computing power, said it sold 7,202 bitcoins in June to raise $167 million.
- Miners have seen their revenue dwindle along with the price of bitcoin in the past month. Some are also facing margin calls on debt issued during bull times, as the value of their collateral – usually bitcoin or mining rigs – has also diminished.
- Hut 8 is one of the least leveraged publicly listed miners relative to its equity, according to data analyzed by CoinDesk. At the end of last year, it had CAD$140 million ($107 million) in cash, according to its annual earnings report.
- The company has also diversified its revenue streams away from crypto. Its high-performance computing business is "on track to grow up to 18% by the end of 2022," according to the statement.