Bitcoin Miner, CleanSpark Expands Operations in Georgia with IDR 241.8 Billion Investment

JAKARTA - Bitcoin miner CleanSpark is now expanding its operations in the US state of Georgia, adding to its mining capacity despite the ongoing bear market.

On January 19, CleanSpark revealed the groundbreaking of a new 50-megawatt Bitcoin mining facility in Washington, Georgia, was underway. Completion of construction of this facility in late spring. The nearly USD 16 million (IDR 241.8 billion) mining expansion is expected to increase the company's hashrate by 2.2 exahashes per second, with a total hashrate reaching as high as 8.7 EH/s.

The expanded facility will accommodate up to 16,000 miners, including the newly added Antminer S19j Pro and Antminer S19 XP models.

“This second phase more than doubles the size of the existing operation,” said CleanSpark CEO Zach Bradford, as quoted by Cointelegraph.

CleanSpark bought its site in Georgia last August before acquiring the Mawson Infrastructure Group's local mining facility the following month for $33 million (IDR 498.7 billion). At that time, they said they planned to support a mining fleet of up to 70.000 units by 2023.

CleanSpark received approval to publicly trade on the Nasdaq stock exchange in early 2020. The following year, the company raised USD 200 million in capital through an equity offering.

With the price of Bitcoin plunging more than 76% from peak to trough, miners have been forced to rethink their business strategy to survive in the long term. One of the industry's biggest players, Core Scientific, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December. The Greenridge mine, meanwhile, received $74 million in aid just to stay afloat in a bear market.

Some miners thrive during bear markets by reducing energy costs and avoiding excessive leverage. Last October, CleanSpark chief executive Matthew Shultz told Cointelegraph that “Bitcoin mining is a potential solution to create more opportunities for energy development.”