In May, the first full month of mining following the recent halving, publicly traded North American Bitcoin miners experienced a significant impact. The average Bitcoin mined per day dropped by 43% compared to April. The Bitcoin mining difficulty decreased by 3.6% relative to the previous month’s closing difficulty. Despite these challenges, the price of Bitcoin rose, closing at $67,491 on May 31, 2024, marking an 11.3% increase.

May witnessed several significant developments in the mining sector. Firstly, IREN achieved its milestone hash rate target of 10 EH/s ahead of schedule. The company also announced an increase in its planned hash rate for the remainder of 2024 from 20 EH/s to 30 EH/s, with an option to purchase additional Bitmain S21 Pro miner machines, equivalent to 10 EH/s, in 2025.

In merger and acquisition (M&A) news, Riot Platforms expressed interest in Bitfarms with a $2.30 per share offer, representing a 24% premium over the average price in recent months. This proposal was reviewed and rejected by a special committee of directors. Despite this, Riot Platforms has since acquired 12% of Bitfarms’ shares.

CoreWeave, a specialized cloud provider and AI hyperscaler, made an unsolicited all-cash offer of $1 billion to acquire all shares of Core Scientific. This offer was also rejected, deemed too low by the target company.

It appears that further consolidation within the industry is more likely to occur, as infrastructure with cheap renewable energy becomes more of a challenge to source and acquire.

Bitdeer Technologies Group (BTDR)

On May 31, 2024, Bitdeer announced a subscription agreement with Tether International Limited for a private placement of 18,587,360 Class A ordinary shares and a warrant for 5,000,000 additional shares at $10 per share. The closing occurred on May 30, 2024, generating $100 million which could increase by an additional $50 million if the warrants are fully exercised.  This funding will be utilized to accelerate the company’s growth strategy and sustainable and efficient bitcoin mining.

Bitdeer mined 184 Bitcoin during the month of May, at a daily rate of 5.9, a reduction of 33% on the daily rate achieved during April.  The company has completed the initial trial production of Sealminer A1 ASICs and has begun sample shipments for data center testing.  Progress has been made on the 1.1 GW of new power infrastructure across the USA, Norway, and Bhutan, with 40 MW in Norway now expected online by year-end.  By utilizing these miner machines proprietary hash rate is expected to reach 11.8 EH/s, by the end of the year.  Their AI cloud service has also launched, expanding user coverage.

On June 3, 2024, Bitdeer agreed to acquire FreeChain Inc. (“Desiweminer”), a fabless crypto ASIC design company, for 20 million Class A ordinary shares. The acquisition, pending customary conditions, will integrate Desiweminer’s advanced chip designs with Bitdeer’s technology, enhancing their ASIC design capabilities in Singapore. This strategic move aims to accelerate Bitdeer’s market presence and innovation in the mining industry.

On June 6, 2024, the company unveiled its R&D technology roadmap for the SEALMINER Bitcoin mining machine.  Over the next 12 months the company will be targeting improvements in mining efficiency as shown in the table below, culminating in the production of the SEAL04 mining machine, due to be released in Q2 2025, with a record low efficiency of 5 j/TH, a 66.6% reduction when compared to the most efficient machine on the market, currently, the S21 Pro miner produced by Bitmain, with an efficiency of 15 j/TH.  By producing their own machines at cost and achieving this new level of mining efficiency, Bitdeer will have the opportunity to produce Bitcoin at significant cost savings.

Bit Digital (BTBT)

Bit Digital produced 63.3 Bitcoin during the month of May, equating to $4.3 million in revenues and at an average daily rate of 2 Bitcoin, a reduction of 48.7% on the daily rate achieved in the previous month.  The company’s operational hash rate was approximately 2.54 EH/s, a decline when compared to April and attributed to voluntary curtailment.

Bit Digital held 1,038.4 Bitcoin and 20,508.3 Ethereum, in custody, with fair market values of $70.1 million and $77.1 million, respectively. The company’s cash and cash equivalents totaled $47.3 million, with total liquidity, including USDC and digital assets, amounting to approximately $195.0 million.

In proof-of-stake activities, Bit Digital had 17,184 ETH staked in native protocols, earning a blended annual percentage yield (APY) of around 3.1% in May 2024. Staking rewards for the month amounted to approximately 45.8 ETH.  

The company operated 256 servers under its initial Bit Digital AI contract, generating an estimated $4.2 million in unaudited revenue for the month.

Bitfarms (BITF)

On April 22, 2024, Bitfarms received an acquisition proposal from Riot Platforms (RIOT) for US $2.30 per share, paid in cash and RIOT common stock. A Special Committee of independent directors reviewed the offer and deemed it undervalued Bitfarms’ potential. Bitfarms has since received other unsolicited interests and is currently exploring strategic alternatives to maximize shareholder value.  

Bitfarms achieved an operational hash rate of 7.5 EH/s, and lowered the efficiency by a further 13% to 27 j/TH.  They produced 156 Bitcoin, at an average daily rate of 5 bitcoin, a reduction of 44% when compared to the daily rate achieved in the previous month. The reduction was due to curtailed operations in Argentina for eight days due to extreme winter temperatures, resuming on May 31, whilst also reflecting the impact of the April halving event.

In May, the company secured an additional 100 MW at its Yguazu site by amending the existing Power Purchase Agreement with Paraguay’s state-owned utility, ANDE, doubling the site’s capacity to 200 MW. This hydropower, priced at approximately 3.9 cents per kWh, will be deployed in 2025 and could add 6 EH/s with S21 Pro miners. Bitfarms also received $17 million of a $24 million VAT refund from Quebec, reducing Canadian power costs by 15% and supporting ongoing growth.

The fleet upgrade has progressed rapidly with 25,600 miners received and 23,600 installed, increasing the total hashrate to 9.5 EH/s and improving energy efficiency by 31% year-over-year.

Despite ongoing CEO recruitment, Bitfarms continues its fleet upgrade and expansion, aiming for 21 EH/s by the end of the year, a 223% hashrate increase and 40% machine efficiency improvement by 2024, one of the highest targets among public Bitcoin mining companies.

The company sold 136 Bitcoin, representing 87% of production, to cover operational and capital expenditure.  Bitfarms continues to add to its hodl, now totaling 850 Bitcoin with a value of $57.2 million as of May 31, 2024.

Core Scientific (CORZ)

On June 3, 2024, Core Scientific signed a 12-year contract with specialized cloud provider and Artificial Intelligence (AI) Hyperscaler, CoreWeave, to provide 200 MW of infrastructure for High Performance Computer (HPC) operations.  The company will now start upgrading its infrastructure, with $300 million of funding, provided by CoreWeave, by mid-2024 and becoming operational by mid-2025. The partnership will enhance Core Scientific’s revenue and diversification, which is projected to generate over $3.5 billion across the contract term, aiming to balance their Bitcoin mining with HPC and Bitcoin hosting businesses by maximizing cash flow and minimizing risk.

On June 6th Core Scientific announced that they had received an unsolicited non-binding proposal from CoreWeave on June 3, 2024, to acquire all outstanding shares at $5.75 per share in cash. Following a thorough review, the Board, with independent advisors, rejected the offer, deeming it significantly undervalued.

Core Scientific produced 447 Bitcoin, at an average daily rate of 14.4 Bitcoin, a reduction of 46.1% on the daily rate achieved in April and achieving $29.4 million of self-mining revenues.

The table below highlights the strategy to reduce the current debt of $608 million.  With all the recent activity and updates, the share price closed at $7.78 on June 7, 2024 an increase of 124% on the last 30 days.  This is now significantly above the Conversion/Trigger Price for both convertible notes ($5.83) and Tranche 1 Warrants ($6.81).  If the volume weighted average share price can remain above $7.79 for 20 consecutive trading days, then the conversion of the notes will take place, providing $260 million of capital, currently planned  to reduce the debt.  

DMG Blockchain (DMGI)

DMG Blockchain mined 23 Bitcoin during May, at a daily rate of 0.7 Bitcoin, with an average hashrate of 0.94 EH/s, achieving 24.5 Bitcoin per EH/s and underscoring its dedication to optimizing mining efficiency.

The company expects its Bitmain T21 mining fleet, anticipated to generate 0.86 EH/s, to be operational in July 2024, delayed from the initial end-of-June target. The T21 miners will be fully installed in mining containers by the end of June, but energizing them awaits connection to the company’s distribution line due to extended lead times for interconnection components. Once fully operational, the new fleet is projected to achieve a total hashrate of approximately 1.7 EH/s, with a blended fleet efficiency of 23 J/TH.

DMG Blockchain sold 41 Bitcoin representing 178% of their production.  The company’s hodl balance stood at 449 BTC, with a value of $30 million based on the closing Bitcoin price as of May 31, 2024, reflecting a strategic approach to growth and asset management.

Gryphon Mining (GRYP)

In May, Gryphon Mining increased its energy efficiency to 28.6 j/TH and produced 22 Bitcoin,  valued at $1.4 million, at an average daily rate of 0.7 Bitcoin, a reduction of 46.8% on the daily rate in the previous month.  The company, with operations fully powered by zero-carbon-emitting hydroelectric power, achieved a Bitcoin efficiency of 24.5 Bitcoin per EH/s whilst maintaining a self-mining hashing power of 904 PH/s with a 98% average uptime on its mining fleet, highlighting the recent investment made in the cutting-edge Bitmain S21 200 TH/s machines.  This upgrade significantly improved their energy efficiency, with the newest machines being 43% more efficient than their predecessors.

As at May 31, 2024 Gryphon Mining held approximately 17 Bitcoin in its treasury valued at $1.1 million. The company has also qualified for inclusion in the Russell Microcap Index, effective July 1, 2024.

Hive Digital Technologies (HIVE)

HIVE Digital reported its production figures for May 2024, mining 119 Bitcoin at an average daily rate of 3.8 Bitcoin, a reduction of 45.6% on the rate achieved in April. The company maintained an average Bitcoin mining capacity of over 4.9 EH/s in May, ending the month with 5.0 EH/s, achieving an average of 24.5 Bitcoin per EH/s.

Frank Holmes, Executive Chairman, highlighted the company’s resilience and efficiency, even amid challenges like the 2022 market downturn and Ethereum’s transition to proof-of-stake. Aydin Kilic, President and CEO, emphasized their goal to reach 5.5 EH/s and optimize fleet efficiency. Hive Digital is set to receive additional S21 Antminers, enhancing its operational capacity. Luke Rossy, COO, announced the acquisition of 1,000 Bitmain S21 Pro Antminers, aiming to upgrade the fleet and grow their hodl position.

Hive Digital’s hodl position further increased to 2,451Bitcoin, valued over $165 million, as of May 31, 2024.

IREN (IREN)

On May 15th, 2024, IREN announced it had reached a new milestone in its growth by reaching  10 EH/s operating hashrate ahead of schedule and increased its 2024 expansion plans to 30 EH/s. The company has secured Bitmain S21 Pro miners, enhancing fleet efficiency to 16 J/TH with an electricity cost of $17k per Bitcoin. An additional 50 MW data center expansion at Childress is planned for 2024, funded through existing cash and other sources.

The company has further options in place to purchase more Bitmain S21 Pro miners, supporting growth to 40 EH/s by 1H 2025.

IREN produced 230 Bitcoin during the month of May, achieving revenues of $15.1 million, at an average daily rate of 7.4 Bitcoin, a reduction of 37.8% on the rate achieved during April.  The reduction was softened due to an increase in their average operational hash rate to 9.4 EH/s, an increase of 14.3% on the previous month.  The hash rate is supported by 260 MW of power and is anticipated to increase to 510 MW in 2024.  Childress Phase 2 & 3 construction are progressing well, supporting their growth target to 30 EH/s for 2024.

In terms of their AI Cloud Services business, IREN currently operates 816 NVIDIA H100 GPUs, with 504 of these contracted with Poolside AI, and the remainder providing service to the on-demand market. During the month of May, the company recorded $892,000 in revenues, achieving gross margins of 98% and estimates that the 816 GPUs could generate estimated annualized hardware profit of $14-$17 million.  This would achieve a payback period, for the capital costs of the GPUs, of approximately 24 months. The company is in ongoing discussions with customers about cloud and colocation solutions and is exploring growth financing opportunities.

The company recently announced their Q3 results which highlighted a cash and cash equivalents balance totalling $322 million as of April 30, 2024.

Riot Platforms (RIOT)

On May 28, 2024 Riot Platforms announced that it proposed to acquire all outstanding shares of Bitfarms for $2.30 per share, representing a 24% premium over Bitfarms’ recent average share price. The company also announced that it held a 9.25% stake in Bitfarms, recently increased to 12% (June 5th) and believes this proposal significantly benefits both companies’ shareholders, with the acquisition effectively creating the world’s largest Bitcoin mining company with extensive geographic diversification and strong financials. However, as already highlighted above, the Bitfarms’ board rejected the proposal.  It is now the intention of Riot Platforms to call a special meeting to address governance issues and maximize shareholder value.

Riot Platforms mined 215 Bitcoin during the month of May, at an average daily rate of 6.9 Bitcoin, a reduction of 44.5% on the daily rate achieved during April.  The company has made some notable progress towards its 2024 hash rate goals. The first 100 MW building at the Corsicana, Texas facility, Building A1, is fully developed, with miner deployment nearly complete. This has added 3.1 EH/s to Riot’s self-mining capacity, bringing the total to 14.7 EH/s. The immersion systems and MicroBT miners have performed exceptionally well, showing strong uptime. Riot Platforms power strategy, actively used during summer, generated approximately $7.3 million in Power and Demand Response Credits in May, highlighting a significant cost advantage.

The Rockdale Facility has also started replacing problematic miners with new MicroBT M60S models. Despite a temporary 850 PH/s decrease in May, deployments will accelerate in June. At Corsicana, development continues with Building A2 and B1 and upon completion, the facility will total 1 GW of mining capacity. Riot Platforms anticipates reaching a self-mining hash rate of 31 EH/s by the end of 2024 and 41 EH/s by 2025.

The company added 99% of the May production, increasing its hodl to 9,084 Bitcoin, valued at $613 million as of May 31, 2024.  

SATO Technology (SATO)

On the night of June 1, 2024 SATO Technologies experienced a fire at Center One, affecting approximately 40 PHs of equipment out of 560 PHs. The fire, in the oldest part of the building, was followed by limited water damage from the fire suppression system. The team is currently working diligently with insurance companies to assess and restore operations but cannot provide a specific recovery timeline yet.

SATO Technologies mined 13 Bitcoin during the month of May, achieving $842,985 in revenues,   at an average daily rate of 0.4 Bitcoin, a reduction of 45.3% when compared to the previous month. From a performance metric, the operational hash rate of 530 PH/s provided 24.5 Bitcoin per EH/s, placing the company 3rd highest for the month of May, continuing SATO technology’s  consistent level of production.

The company sold 19 Bitcoin, during the month, representing 146% of monthly production and currently holds 62 Bitcoin within its treasury at a value of $4.2 million.

Soluna Holdings (SLNH)

On May 21, 2024, Soluna Holdings secured financing from Spring Lane Capital (SLC) for a 48 MW expansion of Project Dorothy, dubbed “Dorothy 2,” with SLC committing up to $30 million to support the capital expenditure.

This expansion underscores Soluna Holdings’s dedication to sustainable high-performance computing, leveraging renewable energy. The project will accommodate 13,700 next-gen Bitcoin mining machines, doubling curtailed energy consumption and with Dorothy 2’s superior financial structure and technology will boost Soluna’s current income.

Construction begins in Q2 2024, targeting Q4 2024 for energization. This partnership marks a significant step in Soluna’s mission to integrate sustainable energy into high-performance computing, supported by innovative financing and robust project design.

Soluna Holdings also announced on May 22, 2024, the signing of a definitive Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) for Project Kati with EDF Renewables and Masdar, marking a milestone in its growth. Project Kati, Soluna’s second Renewable Computing data center project in Texas, will utilize 166 MW of renewable energy capacity for high-performance computing, including AI.

The agreement solidifies Soluna’s ownership, positioning it strategically in the renewable energy market. CEO John Belizaire stated the milestone demonstrates their commitment to sustainable energy solutions and excitement for opportunities in expanding Assets Under Management and contributing to AI advancements.

The company mined 18 Bitcoin in May, achieving $1.2 million in self-mining revenues, at an average daily rate of 0.6 Bitcoin, a reduction of 47.2% on the daily rate for April.  

TeraWulf (WULF)

TeraWulf mined 186 Bitcoin in May, averaging 6 Bitcoin per day, a reduction of 48.3% on the previous month’s daily average.  As of May 31, 2024, TeraWulf’s capacity included 160 MW at Lake Mariner and 50 MW at Nautilus, with a total self-mining energized hash rate of about 8.0 EH/s. The miners actually operated at 7.8 EH/s (95% capacity), during May.

The Lake Mariner team is currently advancing Building 4, set to complete this month, which will house around 10,000 Bitmain S21 and S21 Pro miners, boosting total capacity to over 10.0 EH/s.  Building 5, a 50 MW modular building, is expected online in Q1 2025.

Construction at Lake Mariner includes a 2.0 MW AI/HPC digital infrastructure pilot supporting next-gen GPU technology, featuring high-density racks and liquid cooling, aimed at SOC 2 standards. These developments are part of TeraWulf’s strategic expansion and optimization efforts to enhance operational efficiency and capacity.

Monthly and year-to-date (YTD) metrics

In terms of the monthly production metrics, Bit Digital managed to outperform all the North American miners achieving 24.9 EH/s, closely followed by SATO Technologies, TeraWulf and Hive Digital.  There was very little to separate the top 12 miners in terms of production by EH/s.

The YTD table showed no actual changes in the overall performance of the North American Bitcoin Miners with Bitfarms, SATO Technology and Hive Digital finishing in the top 3 places.

In terms of the utilization metric, Gryphon Mining had the highest utilization rate with 95%, closely followed by Hive Digital and IREN who both achieved 94%.