Grazie al nuovo accordo stipulato con Bitmain per l’acquisto di nuove unità di Antminer S19 XP, l’azienda italiana mira ad espandere le proprie operazioni di mining di Bitcoin, avvicinandosi all’obiettivo di quadruplicare la sua capacità di produzione di potenza di calcolo entro la fine dell’anno.
Trento, Italy - Beijing, China, June 6, 2023 - Alps Blockchain SpA, Italy's leading Bitcoin mining company and developer of sustainable blockchain infrastructure solutions, announces the purchase of new hardware units from Bitmain, as part of a deal worth a total of $32 million.
The order placed concerns the Antminer S19 XP, the most energy-efficient SHA256 algorithm-based mining machine model currently available on the market, capable of providing a computing power of 140 TH/s at 3 kW. All units are expected to be delivered in several batches by the manufacturer between Q2 and Q3 of 2023.
Alps Blockchain plans to allocate the units acquired from Bitmain to the deployment of its infrastructure internationally, with a particular focus on sites operated in South America, to reach over 1.5 exahash per second (EH/s) of total computing power once they are all deployed and operational, increasing the company's current hashrate by around four times. This latest order of hardware units, agreed by joining Bitmain's Bitcoin Pizza Day offer and worth $16m, is in addition to the first order part of the deal, worth an equal $16m, placed in Q4 2022. The two recent orders follow the company's previous purchase in Q2 of 2021 for $25m.
Since 2018, Alps Blockchain has been dedicated to the creation of mining farms powered by renewable energy sources. In Italy it is present in around 20 hydroelectric power plants, thanks to the offer of an innovative service dedicated to hydroelectric energy players, which consists in the design, installation and management of tailor-made mining farms within the structures themselves. The new capital obtained in March 2023 thanks to Azimut Group's investment, totalling €40 million, has helped support and accelerate the objective of internationalisation, infrastructure growth and development of sustainable mining solutions pursued by Alps Blockchain.
Francesca Failoni, CFO of Alps Blockchain, says: "The agreement with Bitmain further consolidates the strategic partnership established with our company, opening up new project possibilities. For Alps Blockchain, it represents an important step along our path of sustainable development and growth in the mining industry, and brings us ever closer to our goals set for 2023. In a little over four years, Alps Blockchain has experienced progressive growth and now aims to implement the business by focusing on the consolidation of the business model in Italy, internationalisation and the creation of new infrastructure. Thanks to this new order, we will be able to focus all our attention in the coming months on expanding the mining farms at our sites.
Xmei Lin, Head of Sales at BITMAIN, said: 'We are thrilled that Alps Blockchain has increased its computing power through the purchase of BITMAIN's mining machines. This demonstrates our commitment to rewarding our established partners and our dedication to fostering mutually beneficial relationships. We look forward to the opportunity to share resources, establish profitable policies, and create win-win situations with partners like Alps Blockchain. We are proud to be part of their journey and look forward to what the future holds."
Founded in 2018, Alps Blockchain is an Italian company specialising in the creation of sustainable mining farms, which aims to create a bridge between the world of new technologies and that of renewable sources. In Italy, it has introduced a new solution aimed at supporting the hydropower sector and offering a new business opportunity to energy producers, capable of helping to keep their historical power plants profitable once state incentives end. The service involves the installation of mining farms within hydropower plants through an integrated system that is complementary to traditional power generation, allowing energy producers to also become direct producers of computing power, generating the possibility of upgrading and giving new life to their facilities. To date, Alps Blockchain has built more than 20 mining farms: in addition to those located within Italian hydroelectric power plants and coordinated as a provider, there are the most recent ones managed for its own operations and located abroad, both under construction and already operational. In March 2023, Alps Blockchain was the protagonist of a club deal totalling €40 million promoted by Azimut - an independent and global group in asset management, wealth management, investment banking and fintech - which positioned the company at the top in Q1-23 among venture capital investments in Italy. With the new capital, Alps Blockchain aims to further expand its market presence and continue to invest in sustainable mining solutions.
BITMAIN is the world's leading manufacturer of digital currency mining hardware through its ANTMINER brand, which has long maintained a global market share and technology leadership position, serving customers in over 100 countries and regions. The company has subsidiaries in China, the United States, Singapore, Malaysia, Kazakhstan and other locations.BITMAIN offers cutting-edge technology in terms of energy efficiency, providing the global blockchain network with the industry's advanced computational infrastructure and state-of-the-art solutions. Since its establishment in 2013, the energy efficiency of its Bitcoin mining devices, ANTMINER, has improved by 2 orders of magnitude.
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