The
increasing difficulty of mining cryptocurrencies and a further 9% drop in its
price has negatively impacted Wall Street Bitcoin (BTC) miners in August. The
publicly listed CleanSpark (NASDAQ: CLSK) and Bitfarms (NASDAQ:
BITF) have both
reported a decline in their Bitcoin production compared to the previous month.
CleanSpark and Bitfarms
Report Decreased Bitcoin Production in August 2024
CleanSpark,
which describes itself as “America’s Bitcoin Miner,” and
is one of the biggest publicly listed BTC companies by market cap, mined
478 Bitcoin in August, down from 494 in July. This represents a 3.2% decrease
in monthly production. The company’s average daily Bitcoin production also fell
slightly, from 15.94 in July to 15.43 in August.
“As we approach the end of our fiscal year, the team continues to work diligently to optimize fleet efficiency and increase hashrate. Our fleet upgrade is well underway as we simultaneously prepare for 65 MW of capacity to be energized during the month of September.” – $CLSK CEO… pic.twitter.com/oiH5uDLlEo
— CleanSpark Inc. (@CleanSpark_Inc) September 3, 2024
Similarly,
Bitfarms experienced a more significant drop in its Bitcoin production. The
company mined 233 Bitcoin in August, compared to 253 in July, marking a 7.9%
decrease. Bitfarms attributed this decline to higher network difficulty, which
was partially offset by an increase in its operational hashrate.
#Bitfarms Provides August 2024 Production and Operations Update👀- Bitfarms to Acquire Stronghold Digital Mining, Increasing 2025 Energy Portfolio by 47%- Earned 233 BTC in August 2024 & Increased HODL to 1,103 BTC- Increased Operational Hashrate to 11.3 EH/s- Announces… pic.twitter.com/LWk5bptGGY
— Bitfarms (@Bitfarms_io) September 3, 2024
Lower
mining outputs also correspond with decreased earnings. According
to Bitbo data, cryptocurrency miners earned $828 million in August, marking
the lowest earnings since September 2023. Moreover, this represents a 57% drop
from the historical highs achieved in March of this year, when earnings nearly
reached $2 billion.
Despite
the decrease in production, both companies continued to expand their operations
and improve their mining capabilities:
- CleanSpark
increased its total operating hashrate by 1.4 EH/s during August, ending the
month at 22.6 EH/s. - Bitfarms
reported an operational hashrate of 11.3 EH/s at the end of August, up 102%
year-over-year and 2% month-over-month.
Battling the Adverse Trend
Both
companies are pursuing aggressive expansion strategies. CleanSpark
expects to bring 65 MW of additional data center capacity online in
September.
“As we
approach the end of our fiscal year, the team continues to work diligently to
optimize fleet efficiency and increase hashrate,” said Zach Bradford, CEO. “Our fleet upgrade is well
underway as we simultaneously prepare for 65 MW of capacity to be energized
during the month of September. These efforts are expected to result in a
meaningful increase in operating hashrate and bitcoin production as we close
out our fiscal year.”
Bitfarms,
on the other hand, has assumed control of its first mega-site in Sharon, PA,
with access to up to 120 MW. Earlier in August, the
company also acquired Stronghold.
“With this
transaction, we have finalized the acquisition of 110 MW, with 30 MW expected
to come online by the end of 2024,” commented Ben Gagnon, Chief Executive Officer of Bitfarms. “We have also signed a Letter of Intent for
an additional 10 MW site, which will increase our total site capacity to 120 MW
by 2025.”
The
decrease in Bitcoin production for both companies highlights the challenges
faced by miners as network difficulty increases and competition in the industry
intensifies. According to the latest JPMorgan report, mining
companies are still feeling April’s halving hangover.
This article was written by Damian Chmiel at www.financemagnates.com.
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