Hi all,

In this newsletter, we summarize some of the big events from this week and will continue doing this weekly. Subscribe to get it straight in your inbox.

Here's what happened in the world of mining this week:

• Proposed 30% tax for miners 💸 

• Big bad TeraWulf energized 8,000 miners in Nautilus 🐺 

• Hut8 increase total hashrate in 2022 💫 

• Silvergate and Silicon Valley Bank tumble the tech and crypto market 🙃

• Our Patrick Guerriero presented Block Green to Texas Blockchain Council 🤠 

Block Green US Mining Report 🔍️ 

• We published our latest report, the first in a new series covering the US miner market. The following report will study a Bitcoin mining state, evaluating the state based on a framework of aspects, TBC.

• Thank you Gigi and Joe for the shoutouts:

• We will visit Joe on the Blockware Intelligence Podcast next week.

• Please feel free to suggest topics, just DM us on Twitter.

Joe Biden Proposes 30% Tax on Miners 🤦‍♂️ 

• The 2024 budget proposal, unveiled Thursday, included a 30% tax on miners and close a crypto tax “loophole”.

• The U.S. Treasury Department’s Greenbook” would implement a phased-in excise tax based on the costs of the electricity used in crypto mining.

• Imposed on the companies “using computing resources” to mine cryptocurrencies.

• These companies would also be required to report how much electricity they use and what type of power was tapped.

• The tax would be phased in over the next three years, increasing 10% each year.

• Seems like we still have some educating to do in DC:

TeraWulf Energize 8,000 Rigs at Nautilus Nuclear Facility 🐺 

- Nautilus Cryptomine (Susquehanna, PA) 🔱 

• Located at a 2.5 GW zero-carbon nuclear energy generating facility in the PJM interconnection.

• A partnership between TeraWulf’s nuclear mining facility subsidiary and Talen Energy Corporation.

• Will be among the largest, most efficient Bitcoin mines in North America.

• Nautilus benefits from long-term, zero-carbon power supply directly from the nuclear facility.

• The jointly-owned facility is expected to reach 300 MW when complete.

- They Expect to Have Another 8,000 Rigs Energized in Q1 ⚡️ 

• TeraWulf (WULF) has begun operations at its Nautilus Cryptomine facility – the first nuclear-powered bitcoin mining facility in the U.S.

• Nearly 8,000 mining rigs online, hashrate of 1.0 EH/s.

• TeraWulf expects to have another 8,000 rigs energized in coming weeks, bringing Nautilus operating capacity to 1.9 EH/s.

• The miner also said it expects to reach 5.5 EH/s of computing power across its two sites by early in the second quarter.

• TeraWulf's energy costs, PPA for 2 cents/kWh for five years,

• This will bring down average energy cost down to about 4 cents/kWh across its two facilities.

Hut8 Q4 Earnings - 25% Increase in Hashrate 👁️ 

• Hut8 mined 3,568 Bitcoin in 2022.

• Installed hashrate of approximately 2.5 EH/s

• 150.7 MUSD in annual revenue, compared to 173.8 MUSD in 2021.

• BTC holdings ⬆️ 64.7%

• Hut8's high-performance computing operations generated 16.9 MUSD in 2022 revenue, the majority is monthly recurring revenue.

• Installed an aggregate of 21,455 new MicroBT M30S, M30S+, M30S++ and M31S+ miners at its three mining sites during the year.

• Hashrate increase of 25.0% compared to 2021.

• The Drumheller facility experienced diminished production as a result of electrical issues.

• North Bay facility is not operational as of March 9, 2023.

From TheMinerMag their estimated all-in cost of mining for Hut8 in Q4 was still way higher than Bitcoin's market prices due to higher corporate overhead and less amount of BTC mined last quarter.

Silvergate and Silicon Valley Bank Plummet 🐟️ 

• Silvergate Capital's abrupt shutdown and SVB Financial Group’s hasty fundraising have sent US bank stocks diving.

• Silvergate had warned last week it was “less than well capitalized” after depositors demanded their money back.

• Silvergate reported a 1.0 BUSD loss for the fourth quarter of 2022 after investors raced to withdraw more than 8.0 BUSD in deposits.

• Multiple partners of the bank, including Coinbase, a crypto exchange, and Galaxy Digital, a crypto-focused financial services company, cut their links with Silvergate last week. FTX and its affiliated trading arm, Alameda Research, had Silvergate accounts.

• Marathon Digital Holdings prepaid its term loan and ended its credit facilities with Silvergate, the bitcoin in a 50.0 MUSD debt reduction and a boost in its unrestricted bitcoin holdings by the 3,132 tokens that were held as collateral for the loan.

• Announced that it plans to wind down operations and liquidate Silvergate Bank.

• Silicon Valley Bank surprised the market by announcing late Wednesday it needed to raise 2.6 BUSD in stock.

• The bank had been forced to sell all of its available-for-sale bonds at a 1.8 BUSD loss as its startup clients withdrew deposits.

• SVB customers said they didn’t gain confidence after Becker urged them to “stay calm” in a call Thursday afternoon, and the stock’s collapse continued unabated, reaching 60% by end of trading.

• Latest update: Silicon Valley Bank was closed by the FDIC after deposit outflows and a failed capital raise

Dennis Porter - Bitcoin Mining is Good for the Environment 💚 

• Dennis Porter, CEO of Satoshi Action Fund, wrote an opinion piece on CoinDesk addressed to U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW).

• EPW will hold a hearing on digital assets and the environment that will likely focus on the energy use from Bitcoin’s proof-of-work mining process.

Dennis Porter argues for the benefits of Bitcoin mining:

• Currently, the state of California is on track to curtail five million MW by 2030.

• This is more energy than the bottom 36 nations use combined.

• Bitcoin miners stand ready to purchase excess energy from wind and solar farms,

• Improving the revenue for renewable generation and preventing taxpayers from subsidizing the generation of energy. A win-win.

• Miners can also smooth out the intermittent generation of renewables by participating in grid-balancing services.

• He continues to speak about the evident benefits of demand flexibility. And of course stranded methane. Last but not least the perils of proof-of-stake.

Read the whole article here 

Patrick Guerriero Intro to Block Green 💚 

Patrick from our team visited Texas Blockchain Council to speak about mining, energy, and Block Green. See the interview below:

Don’t forget to smash Like 👍️ 

Other News 👓️ 

• @Jack Announced the Mining Development Kit via Block

• Swiss Bitcoin-app Relai raised 4.5 MUSD in funding from ego death capital.

• Crypto VCs urge portfolio companies to pull funds from Silicon Valley Bank

ICYMI 👀 

• Paul Krugman, not a skeptic anymore?