The first production update of 2023 from publicly traded Bitcoin (BTC) mining companies shows a steady increase in hash rate and a rebound in BTC production compared to the previous month, according to a new Hashrate analysis. Index.
Most public miners increased their bitcoin production in January, with CleanSpark increasing it by 50%, reaching a record monthly production of 697 Bitcoins. Leading the way in BTC production, Core Scientific reached 1,527 coins mined in January, followed by Riot, the second largest producer, mining 740 Bitcoins in the month.
Marathon and Cipher have seen significant increases in Bitcoin production, reaching 687 and 343 Bitcoins generated, respectively, up from 475 and 225 in December.
According to Bitcoin mining analyst Jaran Mellerud, improved weather conditions in January and stable electricity prices helped miners increase their output: “In December, a winter storm hit the North American continent, causing electricity prices to spike, forcing many of these companies to periodically shut down their operations.. With more benign weather in January, electricity prices stabilized and miners were able to achieve increased uptime.”
The hash rate increased for most public miners in January, but at a slower rate than expected. The exception is Texas-based Cipher, which increased its hash rate by more than 50%, to 4.3 EH/s. “Cipher has been building strongly during this bear market, and I expect the company to reach its hashrate goal of 6 EH/s of self-mining capacity by the end of Q1 2023,” Mellerud noted.
CleanSpark also increased its hashrate to 6.6 EH/s from 6.2 EH/s in December, following a series of acquisitions in late 2022.. Hive also posted growth in January, with its hash rate increasing by almost 30%, from 2.1 to 2.7 EH/s. “The company continues to replace its fleet of GPUs with ASICs, primarily for its own designed Buzzminers,” they comment on Hive’s performance.
Core Scientific continued to increase its hash rate, reaching 17 EH/s in January, up from 15.7 in December. However, these figures are expected to be affected by the company’s bankruptcy proceedings, which include an agreement with the New York Digital Investment Group (NYDIG) to settle an outstanding debt of USD 38.6 million through the delivery of more than 27,000 mining machines used as collateralwhich represents 18% of Core Scientific teams.
Core Scientific filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on December 21, seeking to reorganize its debts after months of financial difficulties due to rising electricity costs and low Bitcoin prices.
Mellerud also noted that “these companies have repeatedly extended the timeframe of their lofty hashrate expansion targets. Most of them have plans to drastically increase their operational hashrate by the end of the second quarter of this year. At the current rate, it is likely that most of them will have to delay their expansion plans.”
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