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- 1 The company announced the acquisition of a new site in Texas last week.
- 2 Bitcoin halving is scheduled for April 2024.
No crypto miner wants to leave a stone unturned for the upcoming Bitcoin (BTC) halving. Cipher Mining, a public miner, has recently ordered 37,396 units of Bitmain Antminer T21 miners, which will be delivered in the first half of 2025. Additionally, they have an option to acquire 45,706 miners in 2024 according to the official announcement.
Cipher Preparing Black Pearl Before Halving Hits
“By acquiring 7.1 EH/s of Bitmain’s T21 mining rigs, we can build out the first 135 MW at our newly acquired Black Pearl site,” said Cipher CEO Tyler Page. “Cipher’s custom software and operations stack, combined with the attractive pricing dynamics in the ERCOT market, will allow us to fully utilize the unique qualities of the T21’s energy modes to maximize profits at Black Pearl.”
It must be noted that the crypto mining machines will be arriving a year after the halving has been done. The event occurs every four years where rewards received from mining a BTC block are slashed in half. After three halvings, the reward has come down to 6.25 Bitcoin today. It will further reduce to 3.125 BTC.
Following the announcement, the company shares gained 20 percent before closing on December 18, 2023. Data shows that the past four earnings reports delivered negative revenue. The stock has performed well perceivably year-to-date with over 450 percent increase in value.
Last week, the company announced that it had acquired a new site in Texas namely Black Pearl. It will likely become the largest of sites currently under possession of Cipher Mining. Tyler said, “With interconnection up to 300 MW, we expect Black Pearl to become the largest of our sites. We’re excited to get started on building Black Pearl, and expect to start deploying mining rigs at the site in a little more than a year.”
Texas has become a crypto mining hub mostly due to cheap renewable resources. In addition to that, Bitcoin miners can leverage the duck curve for their operations. Moreover, the Electricity Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the State’s grid operator, runs a demand response program that rewards miners with energy credits to power down their operations to offset higher energy demand elsewhere. In September, BTC miner Riot Platforms earned over $30 Million in energy credits.
Charles Pearce and Reginald Smith, analysts associated with financial services company JP Morgan, said in October that the Bitcoin mining industry is at a ‘Crucible Moment.’ Their optimism stood at the possibility of Bitcoin ETF approval by the American securities watchdog Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). As of now, no approval has been provided by the regulator.
As halving nears, Bitcoin miners are preparing themselves to get the best out of the event. Earlier in December, Riot Platforms updated its long-term purchase agreement with technology company MicroBT. The order for 66,560 miners will reportedly be completed by the second half of 2024.
Anurag is working as a fundamental writer for The Coin Republic since 2021. He likes to exercise his curious muscles and research deep into a topic. Though he covers various aspects of the crypto industry, he is quite passionate about the Web3, NFTs, Gaming, and Metaverse, and envisions them as the future of the (digital) economy. A reader & writer at heart, he calls himself an “average guitar player” and a fun footballer.
