Bitcoin Mining Giant Iris Energy Acquires Bitmain's Latest Rig

Irish Energy adds Bitcoin mining machines. (Photo; Doc. Webitcoin)

JAKARTA - Bitcoin mining company registered with Nasdaq, Iris Energy, has announced the acquisition of 1.4 exahash per second (EH/s) from Bitmain's newest S21 Antminers miner. This is Irish Energy's effort to increase the company's mining capacity by 25%, from 5.6 EH/s to 7 EH/s.

For additional information, Bitmain recently released a very efficient Antminers S21 series, with ratings below 20 joules per terahash (J/T). According to a report by News Bitcoin.com Iris Energy, which is trading on Nasdaq with an IREN ticker, bought 1.4 EH/s from this S21 Bitmain miner. This acquisition was made at a price of 19.6 million US dollars (approximately IDR 307 billion), around 14 US dollars (IDR 219 thousand) per terahash, and a total of 2.9 million US dollars (IDR 45 billion) will be paid a year after delivery.

Iris will place S21 units at their location in Childrenress, Texas, increasing their mining capacity from 5.6 EH/s to 7 EH/s, recording a growth of 25%.

Although the S21 Antminers model purchased by Iris was not disclosed, its efficiency was 17.5 J/TH, showing the use of an air-cooled variant. With a total capacity of 1.4 EH/s and a capability of 200 terahash per second per engine, it is likely that Iris will buy around 7,000 units. They plan to reach 9.4 EH/s in the near future, an increase from the previous projection of 9.1 EH/s.

The Childrenress data center is currently being expanded to support up to 80 megawatts, with deliveries expected to be completed in early 2024. Iris's decision to update their mining equipment comes as competitors such as Canaan and Microbt release new generation machines offering high hashrates and efficiency.

Iris uses 100% renewable energy for its mining operations, and they plan to continue to increase their capacity to reach 30 EH/s over time.

This year, Iris's shares have risen 150%, despite a 27% decline in the past month. This decline is in line with a broader decline in the cryptocurrency market which is affected by the turmoil of events in the Middle East.