Cleanspark Buys 60,000 Bitcoin Miners From Bitmain, Ready To Face Bull Market

JAKARTA - Cleanspark, a crypto mining company listed on the Nasdaq exchange, is taking a major step by acquiring 60,000 S21 Bitcoin mining machines from Bitmain. The transaction value reaches 193 million US dollars or around Rp. 2.99 trillion (exchange rate of Rp. 15,522 per US dollar), and is expected to increase the mining power of Cleanspark up to 12 exahashes per second (EH/s).

The delivery of the S21 miner is scheduled to take place between April and June 2024. Zach Bradford, CEO of Cleanspark, said that this acquisition is part of the company's strategy to prepare for the upcoming crypto bull market. "We are ready to thrive in the next bull market," he said in an official statement, Saturday, January 6.

In addition, Cleanspark also gets the option to buy up to 100,000 additional S21 miners with a fixed price of 16 US dollars or around Rp. 248,352 per terahash. If this option is realized, the mining capacity of Cleanspark can reach 50 EH/s, or an increase of 400% of the current capacity. This option is valid until the end of 2024.

Cleanspark chose the S21 miner over the newer T21 model for performance reasons. According to Bradford, S21 is more efficient and in accordance with the company's operations. "We have carried out extensive testing and found that S21 provides the best results for us," he said.

Cleanspark's move is in line with the increasingly competitive trend of the crypto mining industry. Several other companies, such as Hive Digital Technologies, Cipher Mining, and Iris Energy, have also strengthened their mining capabilities by buying the latest generation rigs. They are preparing for the Bitcoin halling event, which will cut the number of Bitcoins that can be mined every 10 minutes.

Bitcoin halving is predicted to occur in May 2024, and is believed to increase Bitcoin demand and prices. Currently, the price of Bitcoin is in the range of US$47,000 or around Rp. 729.5 million per coin, up about 10% since the beginning of the year.

Meanwhile, Riot Platforms, one of the big players in Bitcoin mining, recently announced the acquisition of 100,000 units of Whatsminer M66S, the latest model of Microbt producer. Riot has also secured a call option with Bitmain for an additional 75 EH/s mining equipment from Microbt.

Bradford considers that this agreement with Bitmain provides benefits for Cleanspark, both in terms of efficiency, flexibility, and opportunity. "We are in a very good position to take advantage of the tremendous growth of the crypto market," he said.

The crypto mining industry continues to grow along with technological developments and market demand. Cleanspark demonstrates its commitment to remain superior in this dynamic industry with a proactive and strategic approach.