Cipher Mining Acquires 16,700 Bitcoin Mining Machines Welcoming "Having" Events

Cipher Mining facility, Bitcoin mining company (photo: x @chiperInc)

JAKARTA - Cipher Mining, a Bitcoin mining company, has purchased 16,700 new mining machines expected to be delivered in the second quarter, hoping to become "one of the industry winners" of Bitcoin's "halving" events expected to occur in April 2024.

Cipher plans to install the newest generation of miners, Avalon A1466, at the Bear and Chief Mountain facilities in Texas in the second quarter, bringing the company's mining capacity to 8.4 exahashes per second (EH/s), the company said in a statement on January 3.

This purchase provision was reached between mining company Bitcoin Canaan, which sells mining engine Avalon A1466, and joint venture company Bear LLC and Chief Mountain LLC. Cipher has 49% interest in the joint venture.

Cipher Mining CEO Tyler Page said the new purchases were well set to work with Bitcoin's "halving" events - a process in which Bitcoin mining returns were cut to half to reduce the number of new coins entering the network. These events usually coincide with significant Bitcoin price increases.

"This development puts us for strong growth, and I wish Cipher to become one of the industry winners after 'halving'," Page said.

Cipher did not disclose how much it cost for the 16,700 mining machines, but said the deal was reached with "very profitable conditions."

"[We are] happy to have done so at this point in the engine market cycle," added Page.

This is the second time Cipher has bought a machine from Canaan. Page said he was pleased with the performance of the first pile of Canadian machines in Texas's "hot summer" - which saw temperatures reaching 119 degrees Fahrenheit (48.3 degrees Celsius) in 2023.

Last year, Cipher bought 37,396 units of the latest mining engine, Antminer T21, from Bitmain. This purchase is worth 99.5 million US dollars (Rp1.5 trillion), representing its own mining capacity of 7.1 EH/s, although these machines will not be delivered until the first half of 2025.

Cipher managed to mine 465 BTC in December, representing a 7.4% increase from November, according to its latest operating update. The company has 796 BTC on its balance sheet, worth 34 million US dollars (IDR 528.7 billion).

The company's share price (CIFR) jumped 638% from USD 0.56 to USD 4.13 in 2023 after the difficult year 2022 which saw CIFR drop 88%, according to Companies Market Cap.

Its current market capitalization reaches 1.01 billion US dollars (IDR 15.7 trillion), following only behind Marathon Digital Holdings, Riot Platforms, CleanSpark, and Hut 8 Mining.