🤝 Bipartisan Support Grows for U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve

Recent developments indicate a rising bipartisan consensus around the establishment of a strategic Bitcoin reserve in the United States, drawing comparisons to the historic Louisiana Purchase.

Senator Cynthia Lummis introduced legislation aimed at utilizing existing Federal Reserve and Treasury funds to acquire one million BTC, positioning the U.S. as a dominant holder of the cryptocurrency and aligning its stake with the nation's gold reserves.

Former President Donald Trump has also proposed creating a national Bitcoin stockpile while pledging to retain the approximately 200,000 Bitcoin currently owned by the government.

Democratic Representative Ro Khanna has joined the initiative, advocating for Bitcoin as a potential reserve asset due to its appreciation prospects. He believes seized Bitcoin should be retained by the government rather than sold off.

Khanna has pushed for a more favorable view of digital assets within the Democratic Party, stressing that rejecting Bitcoin is akin to opposing modern technology.

Polling data suggests that aligning with Bitcoin presents significant electoral advantages for politicians, leading to a likely increase in bipartisan support for a strategic Bitcoin reserve as the 2024 elections approach.

⛏️ In the News

• CleanSpark reported that its employees are safe, and despite temporarily shutting down operations due to Hurricane Helene, it has already restored most of its hashrate and expects to reach full capacity soon.

• Hut 8 announced that Anchorage Digital converted the entire ~$38m loan balance into Hut 8 common shares, strengthening its financial position as it advances AI and mining infrastructure opportunities.

• TeraWulf sold its 25% stake in the Nautilus joint venture for $92m and plans to reinvest the capital into expanding its operations at its Lake Mariner facility, targeting 13 EH/s by Q1 2025.

📥️ September Updates

🏃 Marathon

• Mined BTC grew by 5% to 705 BTC in September, with the average daily production rising by 8% to 23.5 BTC.

• In September 2024, MARA's energized hashrate increased by 5%, reaching 36.9 EH/s, compared to the previous month.

• The company won 207 BTC blocks during the month, representing a 6% increase from August 2024.

• As of September 30, 2024, MARA held 26,842 BTC and chose not to sell any of its BTC holdings during the month.

• The company remains on track to reach its goal of 50 EH/s by the end of 2024 and continues to energize its owned sites, operating them more efficiently than originally planned.

• MARA also became the first publicly traded digital asset computing company to submit a disclosure to the Climate Disclosure Project (CDP), underscoring its commitment to environmental transparency and corporate responsibility.

🫧 CleanSpark

• In fiscal year 2024, CleanSpark mined 7,098 BTC, exceeding levels from 2023 despite the halving and Hurricane Helene.

• In September 2024, the company mined 493 BTC and sold 2.5 BTC at an average price of about $58,287.

• CleanSpark finished fiscal year 2024 with over 8,000 BTC in treasury, marking a 258% increase from the previous year.

• Energized hashrate grew by 187% to 27.6 EH/s, and operational capacity rose by 132% to 552 MW at wholly-owned sites.

• Hurricane Helene impacted operations, resulting in an average hashrate of 23.4 EH/s for the month, with a peak of 27.6 EH/s.

• CleanSpark aims to reach 30 EH/s in October 2024 and plans to grow to over 50 EH/s in fiscal year 2025, demonstrating strong growth ambitions.

🪖 Riot

• Riot produced 412 BTC in September 2024, up 28% MoM and 14% from September 2023, averaging 13.7 BTC daily.

• The company held 10,427 BTC at the end of September, a 4% increase MoM and 42% year-over-year.

• No BTC was sold in September, compared to 340 BTC sold the previous year, which generated $9m.

• The total deployed hashrate reached 28.2 EH/s, a 20% increase from August and 159% year-over-year.

• Average operating hashrate increased to 9.7 EH/s at Rockdale and 8.6 EH/s at Corsicana, with an overall average of 19.5 EH/s, up 35% month-over-month.

• Total power credits for September were $2.2m, down 66%, with demand response credits at $0.3m, a 56% decrease.

• Riot completed its third 100 MW building at Corsicana, increasing capacity to 300 MW, with another 100 MW building expected by November.

🧑‍🌾 Bitfarms

• Bitfarms earned 217 BTC in September 2024, a decrease of 6.8% MoM. The company sold 173 BTC, earning $10.5m in proceeds.

• As of September 30, 2024, Bitfarms held 1,147 BTC in its treasury, valued at $73.4m at a BTC price of $64,000, and also had $73m in cash.

• Bitfarms' operational capacity reached 11.3 EH/s, representing an 85% YoY increase, although the average operating EH/s decreased 1% MoM to 10.3 EH/s.

• The company achieved its year-end efficiency target of 21 w/TH ahead of schedule by implementing energy efficiency measures and replacing thousands of miners, resulting in a 16% boost in efficiency for September.

🐝 HIVE

• HIVE mined 112 BTC in September 2024, a 50% YoY growth and 1.4% MoM rise. HIVE aims to produce 9 BTC daily by late 2025, with ongoing upgrades to its ASIC fleet expected to reduce production costs to about $28,500.

• The company maintained an ASIC mining capacity of 5.6 EH/s and an average production rate of 3.73 BTC daily, with fleet efficiency at 23 J/TH.

• The BTC HODL is valued at over $160m as of September 30, 2024.

• HIVE filed a Base Shelf Prospectus for $300m to support growth and partnered with Stifel for capital-raising efforts.

• As a pioneer in sustainable energy-powered mining since its 2017 IPO, HIVE focuses on bridging digital currencies and traditional markets.

🐺 TeraWulf

• TeraWulf mined 176 BTC, at an average rate of 5.9 BTC/day, MoM decline of approximately 5.9% but a YoY increase of about 25.7%.

• TeraWulf's operational self-mining capacity reached 10.0 EH/s in September 2024, a doubling YoY.

• The average operating hash rate was approximately 8.2 EH/s, influenced by demand response events and performance tuning for enhanced profitability.

• The average power cost per BTC mined was $35,109, with a corresponding rate of $0.042/kWh, excluding expected proceeds from demand response services.

• The company is on track to complete the CB-1 facility, designed to support high-density GPU workloads, by Q1 2025, with construction of a subsequent 50 MW facility (CB-2) also planned for early Q2 2025.

• TeraWulf's operational capacity includes 195 MW at Lake Mariner and 50 MW at Nautilus, with a total self-mining hash rate of approximately 10.0 EH/s and an average operating rate of 8.2 EH/s during September.

🛖 Hut8

• Self-mining produced 85 BTC in September, down from 87 BTC in August, with a BTC balance sheet of 9,106 BTC.

• Hut 8 reported its September 2024 operations, achieving a hashrate of 19.5 EH/s, up from 18.5 EH/s in August.

• The company partnered with Bitmain for a next-generation ASIC miner deployment targeting 15 EH/s by mid-2025, projected to generate about $135m in annual hosting revenue.

• Hut 8's GPU-as-a-Service subsidiary, Highrise AI, Inc., is operational with 1,000 NVIDIA H100 GPUs generating revenue.

• Total energy capacity under management remained at 762 MW, with 189.9K deployed miners.

• Managed services reported 582 MW of energy capacity and a hashrate of 14.9 EH/s, solidifying Hut 8’s position in Bitcoin mining and AI infrastructure.