Since the beginning of 2024, publicly traded Bitcoin mining companies have collectively spent more than $3.6 billion on property, plant and equipment (PP&E).
This includes costs spent on mining hardware, data center upgrades, and other infrastructure needed to maintain and expand operations.
record your expenses
TheMinerMag's Nov. 28 Newsletter reports Mining companies' PP&E investments from July to September 2024 are the highest since the first quarter of 2022, when they spent a record $1.246 billion. revealed that.
In the third quarter of 2024, companies paid $1.226 billion, which is only $20 million less than the first quarter of 2022 figure. CleanSpark has not yet released its financial report for the period, but analysts believe that with the addition of the Nevada-based miner's spending, the industry could set a new record for net PP&E spending in a single quarter. I think it is possible.
BTC miners have invested approximately $3.49 billion in equipment and upgrades this year, including $1.18 billion from January to March and $1.18 billion from April to June, in addition to the third quarter numbers. Includes $1.07 billion through March. This is already nearly $900 million more than the sector spent in all of 2022.
Hardware purchases account for the majority of expenditures
The increase in investment, following a slump in 2023 when companies spent about $1.3 billion on PP&E, coincides with the Bitcoin network's hash rate rising to nearly 790 exahashes per second (EH/s).
Furthermore, the cryptocurrency's mining difficulty also hit an all-time high of 101.6T on November 5th, and experts predict it will likely rise by at least another 2% in the coming days.
This means mining operations must focus on efficiency and scale to remain competitive and profitable. As such, most of PP&E's funds invested last year were spent on upgrading and expanding its mining hardware.
Pre-order data tracked by TheMinerMag from July 2023 to March 2024 shows that companies have committed more than $2 billion to purchase the latest BTC mining machines.
Distribution is expected to begin streaming by September 2024, with China-based Bitmain securing the bulk of the deal. However, delays in shipping the company's Antminer ASIC devices to US-based BTC miners have sparked speculation about a potential connection to ongoing geopolitical issues. This includes an investigation into possible sanctions violations by Chinese chipmaker Sofgo, which has ties to Bitmain co-founder Michly Zhang.
If the connection is established, it could have serious implications for the multi-billion dollar BTC mining sector, especially now that the cryptocurrency threatens to breach the $100,000 milestone.
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