Crypto Currents: CleanSpark to acquire seven bitcoin mining facilities

As bitcoin, ethereum and other cryptocurrencies get increasing attention from investors, Wall Street and its traditional banks continue to adjust to the shift. Catch up on this week’s top stories highlighting the intersection of these old guard and new school areas of finance with this recap compiled by The Fly.

CLEANSPARK TO ACQUIRE SEVEN BITCOIN MINING FACILITIES: CleanSpark (CLSK) announced Wednesday it has entered into definitive agreements to acquire seven bitcoin mining facilities and certain associated land in the Knoxville, Tennessee, area for total cash payments of $27.5M, or approximately $324,000 per megawatt. The company anticipates closing at each of the sites on or before September 25. The operating hashrate of the combined facilities is anticipated to result in 5 exahashes per second once the latest generation S21 pro miners are installed, increasing the company’s current hashrate by over 22%. The miners required for this expansion have recently arrived and will be installed promptly upon the closing of each site. The seven sites total 85 MW and range in size from 10 MW to 20 MW.

“With the energization of our Dalton 4 campus last week, we’ve already surpassed 23 EH/s and expect more hashrate to come online this week from the energization of 50 MW of S21 pros in Sandersville. With this additional 5 EH/s expected to begin hashing over the coming weeks, we now expect to achieve 37 EH/s before the end of 2024. As we’ve previously discussed, our timing of the market on mining server purchases intentionally locked in low prices so that we could take advantage of opportunities like this and immediately fill acquired data center space. The GRIID acquisition, our recent closing in Wyoming, and now this new transaction represents the continued execution of our growth strategy,” said Zach Bradford, CEO.

Additionally on Thursday, CleanSpark announced it had energized the 50 MW final phase of its 150 MW expansion in Sandersville, GA, resulting in the company’s hashrate exceeding 26 EH/s.

MICROSTRATEGY BUYS MORE BITCOIN: In a Friday regulatory filing, MicroStrategy (MSTR) announced that, during the period between August 6 and September 12, the company acquired approximately 18,300 bitcoins for approximately $1.11B in cash, at an average price of approximately $60,408 per bitcoin. The bitcoin purchases were made using proceeds from the issuance and sale of shares under a sales agreement. As of September 12, the company held an aggregate of approximately 244,800 bitcoins, which were acquired at an aggregate purchase price of approximately $9.45B and an average purchase price of approximately $38,585 per bitcoin.

BITFARMS PROVIDES UPDATE ON RIOT ENGAGEMENT: Bitfarms (BITF) announced Monday that it has rescheduled the special meeting of shareholders from October 29 to November 6. The special meeting has been called in response to a requisition made by Riot Platforms (RIOT) on June 24 and amended on September 3.

The company said. “The Special Meeting was rescheduled to provide the Bitfarms Special Committee adequate time to review and respond to Riot’s Amended Requisition and provide shareholders with sufficient time to evaluate the information relevant to this voting decision regarding the future of their investment in Bitfarms. The Bitfarms Board is focused on acting in the best interests of ALL Bitfarms shareholders. On the contrary, it is clear that Riot, as a direct competitor to Bitfarms, is only focused on taking steps to support its shareholders, not Bitfarms or its shareholders. Recognizing the high costs and distraction associated with a proxy contest, the Bitfarms Special Committee continues to seek to engage constructively with Riot in an effort to resolve the Amended Requisition so that Bitfarms need not expend its cash resources to protect the interests of its shareholders against the actions of Riot. To that end, the Bitfarms Special Committee has proposed the following terms set out in a settlement agreement forwarded to Riot: the addition of one mutually agreed upon Board nominee resulting in an increase of the size of the Board to six, and standstill and other customary provisions.”

Bitfarms also announced Tuesday enhancements to its operations teams. Alex Brammer has been appointed senior vice president of global mining operations and Benoit Gobeil, currently serving as executive vice president of operation & infrastructures, has been promoted to chief infrastructure officer. In conjunction with these appointments, Bitfarms mining operations will now be split into two divisions, mining operations and infrastructure, with Brammer and Gobeil heading up the divisions, respectively.

CANAAN INITIATED WITH BUY: Rosenblatt initiated coverage of Canaan (CAN) on Tuesday with a Buy rating and $3 price target, calling the shares undervalued. The firm views Canaan’s position “in front of the coming bitcoin bull market as compelling,” specifically calling Canaan’s advanced ASIC chip technology “foundational for bitcoin mining machines.”

IREN PRICE TARGET LOWERED: B. Riley lowered the firm’s price target on Iris Energy (IREN) on Friday to $12 from $17 and kept a Buy rating on the shares. Iris Energy produced 245 bitcoin in August, up 10% month over month, and reached 16.0 EH/s of operating hash rate. The company is targeting 30 EH/s in Q4, the analyst said. The firm believes Iris is on track to meet its expansion schedule of 20 EH/s in Q3 and 30 EH/s in Q4, given the solid hash rate deployment in August.

CRYPTO STOCK PLAYS: Publicly traded companies in the space include Bit Digital (BTBT), Coinbase (COIN), Core Scientific (CORZ), Greenidge Generation (GREE), Marathon Digital (MARA), MicroStrategy, Riot Platforms, Stronghold Digital Mining (SDIG) and TeraWulf (WULF).

PRICE ACTION: As of time of writing, bitcoin rose about 7% this week to $57,801 in U.S. dollars, according to CoinDesk.