Publicly traded Bitcoin mining firm Hut 8 Corp announced on April 16 the initialization of self-mining operations at its new Salt Creek facility, only 78 days after breaking ground in the area.
The Texas-based facility boasts a favourable energy profile, which is expected to reduce mining costs by 30% compared to the firm’s hosting facilities.
Hut 8 Expands Its Mining Fleet
The new site energization represents just one-third of the entire facility, charged with 63 megawatts (MW) of power in total.
“With Salt Creek, we gain critical control over our miner fleet and operating costs as we head into the halving,” said Hut 8 CEO Asher Genoot in a press release.
“Our outlook on energy prices at the site suggests that the potential for cost savings relative to our cost of mining at Kearney and Granbury is in line with the 30% reduction initially projected,” he continued.
Less than three months after breaking ground, we’ve officially energized one third of our 63 MW Salt Creek site in Culberson County, Texas.
Our team made rapid energization possible by removing more than 25,000 miners on 20 loaded transports from our hosted facilities in just… pic.twitter.com/BzpikS7ABS
— Hut 8 (@Hut8Corp) April 16, 2024
The Bitcoin halving is a one-in-four-year event that cuts the rate at which the Bitcoin network rewards miners with new coins in half. The next halving is expected to take place within the next four days and will reduce the number of new BTC per day from 900 BTC to 450 BTC.
Though the halving is widely viewed as bullish for Bitcoin in the long run, the event creates immediate pain for its mining industry by nearly cutting its total revenue in half.
As such, only the most efficient miners are equipped to stay profitable, by producing the highest possible “hash rate” while expending the least amount of energy.
Hut’s Move Towards Efficiency
Announced earlier this month, Hut 8 strategically relocated its most efficient mining machines from its Kearney and Granbury facilities to enable rapid energization of its Salt Creek fleet, and to maximize its hash rate ahead of the halving. Last month, Hut also closed one of its mining facilities in Alberta, Canada due to power disruptions and high energy costs.
Hut 8 has also deployed Reactor, an automated energy curtailment software that ensures miners stay online when they can mine profitably.
“We remain on track to deliver an incredibly cost-effective buildout,” said Genroot. “Our expected all-in cost of $275,000 per megawatt or less represents a 40% savings versus recent acquisitions in the area.”
Following the announcement, HUT stock went up 0.9% since Monday, despite BTC, miners, and other Bitcoin-related stocks experiencing slight drawdowns on Tuesday.
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