CleanSpark, the Bitcoin miner, is expanding operations in the state of Georgia, adding to its mining capacity despite the ongoing bear market.
It has been reported that groundbreaking on a new 50-megawatt Bitcoin mining facility in the city of Washington, Georgia, is underway, with expected completion in late spring, CleanSpark disclosed on January 19.
However, the nearly $16 million expansion is expected to increase the company’s hash rate by 2.2 exahashes per second, with total hash rate reaching as high as 8.7 EH/s.
The report said that the expanded facility will host up to 16,000 miners, including newly added Antminer S19j Pro and Antminer S19 XP models.
Zach Bradford, the CEO of CleanSpark, said:
“This second phase more than doubles the size of the existing operations.”
Likewise, CleanSpark purchased its Georgia site in August before acquiring local mining facility Mawson Infrastructure Group the following month for $33 million. At the time, the company said it planned to support a mining fleet of up to 70,000 units in 2023.
CleanSpark received approval to trade publicly on the Nasdaq stock exchange in early 2020. The following year, the company raised $200 million in capital via an equity offering. With the price of Bitcoin plunging more than 76% peak-to-trough, miners have been forced to rethink their business strategies to survive in the long term. One of the industry’s biggest players, Core Scientific, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December. Mining outfit Greenridge, meanwhile, received a $74 million lifeline just to stay afloat.
Some miners have thrived during the bear market by reducing energy costs and avoiding excessive leverage.
Thus, in October, Matthew Shultz, the Executive Chairman of CleanSpark, said that “Bitcoin mining is a potential solution for creating more opportunities for energy development.”
Source: Cointelegraph