Hi everyone,

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:

• TeraWulf energizes 50 MW of nuclear ⚡️ 

• Bank of Russia and crypto 🤝 

• CFO Gary Vecchiarelli shares company insights on podcast 🗒️ 

• Mawson sells Texas site for 8.5 MUSD 🇸🇬 

• Sweden removes tax incentive for data centers 🛑 

Sebastien in Boston on Sustainable Blockchain Panel

TeraWulf Energize 50 MW Nautilus Nuclear Facility ⚡️ 

• Terawulf has deployed its 50 MW stake in the nuclear-powered Nautilus facility for Bitcoin mining.

• The facility is powered by 100% nuclear power and has a fixed power cost of 0.02 USD/kWh.

• Terawulf is collaborating with Cumulus Coin, LLC for the joint venture.

• The company plans to add another 50 MW in the future.

• Terawulf also leverages hydro and solar power at its other locations.

• The company currently operates 4 EH/s and aims to reach 5.5 EH/s of operational mining capacity in Q2 2023.

Bank of Russia to Set up Entities for Crypto Mining 🐻 

• The Bank of Russia is working on a bill to introduce an "experimental legal regime" for cryptocurrencies to be used exclusively in cross-border deals.

• The Bank of Russia plans to create special organizations for mining crypto and processing cross-border trade deal payments.

• The scope of permitted activities is still under development, but initially, only companies with state ties can engage in mining.

• Private companies may be allowed to participate later.

• Russian entities will be permitted to perform crypto settlements outside of the country.

• The government is working on a bill to create a national agency to license and supervise cryptocurrency platforms in Russia.

• The new mining and settlement laws will be part of an "experimental legal regime."

• Russia has restricted the use of cryptocurrency within its borders since July 2022.

Gary Vecchiarelli on Balancing Growth and Risk Management ⚖️ 

Gary Vecchiarelli visited the PYMNTS CFO Series to speak about the challenges of a CFO in a bear market and the aftereffects of the “mini banking-crisis” involving Silicon Valley Bank, Silvergate, and Signature.

• CFOs are facing ongoing challenges in today's macroclimate and need to focus on the fundamentals.

• Recent banking failures have reminded CFOs of the risks they face daily, and they need to ensure healthy communication channels with their banks.

• The CFO role is evolving to focus on risk management, allowing organizations to strategically execute against their resource allocation and balance sheet realities. Even smaller businesses need to prioritize risk management, and CFOs should watch costs and raise capital if possible.

• Gary states that bear markets are a time when good companies become great companies due to their ability to grow and catch that uptrend when the market does return. But goes on to emphasize that CFOs can’t forget their fiduciary responsibilities and core principles: “never spend a dollar if you don’t need to.”

Mawson Sells Texas Site for 8.5 MUSD to Singaporean Fund Manager 🤠 

• Bitcoin miner Mawson Infrastructure (MIGI) is selling its Texas sites to Mainnet Capital, a Singapore fund, for 8.5 MUSD in cash and stablecoins.

• Mawson is shedding weight from its operations to focus on Pennsylvania, and proceeds from the sale will be used for debt reduction and future expansions.

• Mawson expects to have sufficient infrastructure to support 4.2 EH/s of mining computing power by the end of the second quarter.

• Luna Squares LLC, a subsidiary, hosted about 10,000 machines for bankrupt crypto lender Celsius Network as of the end of December.

• Celsius loaned 20 MUSD to Mawson in February 2022, and Luna Squares holds 15.3 MUSD in Celsius deposits, according to bankruptcy filings.

Data Centers Are No Longer Being Welcomed With Open Arms in Sweden 🛑 

• The tax incentive was intended for large tech companies to set up data centers in Sweden. Nevertheless, there has been a public debate regarding the value that data centers bring, particularly following the European energy crisis.

• Sweden is abolishing tax incentives for data centers in July, which will increase the tax per kilowatt hour of energy from SEK 0.006 to SEK 0.36 (0.0347 USD)

• The tax hike could bring the all-in energy cost to 0.093 USD/kWh, which may stop any new investment in Sweden, potentially destroying the Bitcoin mining industry.

• The tax also requires companies to pay in advance for a few months, which creates cash constraints for the industry.

• Some miners may try to get through the tax hike by switching to self-mining instead of hosting others' machines or reusing the heat produced in the data centers.

• Miners are disappointed that the tax will be implemented in the middle of the calendar year, making it hard to plan ahead.

Data 🌏️