- The addition will increase the firm’s self-mining capability to 20.1 EH/s.
- The deployment will happen ahead of Bitcoin’s second halving cycle, scheduled to take place in mid-2024.
Leading Bitcoin [BTC] miner Riot Platforms has purchased 33,280 Bitcoin miners at a cost of $162.9 million for its Texas facility.
The U.S. based mining firm released a press statement on 26 June, announcing the deal. It states that the mining rigs, obtained from mining producer MicroBT, will increase the firm’s self-mining capability by 7.6 EH/s.
Riot Platforms CEO Jason Les said that once the machines are implemented in the first quarter of 2024, its self-mining capacity will rise to 20.1 EH/s. He also stated that “immersion cooling systems” are a major part of the rigs, such as those used in the company’s Corsicana location.
He said,
“These new models are among the most powerful and efficient miners ever made for Bitcoin mining and are designed and produced specifically for immersion cooling systems, such as those that will be used at our Corsicana Facility. These new miners will contribute an additional 7.6 EH/s to Riot’s self-mining capacity when fully deployed and will further enhance our already strong fleet efficiency in advance of the upcoming Bitcoin halving.”
Of the 33,280 machines, 8,320 are M56S+ models with a hash rate of 220 TH/s; the rest of the 24,960 units are M56S++ devices with a hash rate of 230 TH/s. However, the rigs will not arrive until December. So, the deployment of these units will not take place until mid-2024.
Bitcoin miner Riot also stated that it may purchase 66,560 M56S++ units by 31 December 2024. The purchase will increase its self-mining capacity by 15.3 EH/s. The miner may choose to execute this option entirely or partially.
Miners expanding operations across countries
Last week, Australian crypto miner Iris Energy announced its plans to increase its hash rate capacity by 63% to 9.1 EH/s by early 2024. Around the same time, Canadian crypto miner Blockstream also announced raising $125 million in convertible note and secured loan financing to expand its institutional Bitcoin mining colocation services.
Likewise, in February, U.S. based crypto miner CleanSpark announced a purchase of 20,000 mining machines for $32.3 million.
