Hive Blockchain Technologies (HIVE.V) dropped production figures from their global bitcoin and ethereum mining operations for January, and the results are respectable given the setbacks and circumstances.
Hive now has a balance of 2,043 bitcoin and 25,404 ethereum as of January 31, 2022. The company’s total production in January added 425 BTC, 13.7 equivalent per day on average, and 2.9 exahashes of BTC equivalent hash rate.
“We are again pleased that Hive carries on with its strong momentum in expanding bitcoin hashing power even as the network difficulty continues its upward movement. In January, we produced an average of 8.5 BTC per day, and we are pleased to note that as of today, we are producing approximately 8.9 BTC a day. Our bitcoin hashing power increased in January, and at the calendar month-end, our hash rate was 1.87 exahashes, which translated into a 10-per-cent increase in BTC mining hash rate on a month-over-month basis while BTC prices corrected,” said Frank Holmes, executive chairman of Hive.
If you’re unfamiliar with Hive Blockchain, they’re tech stock in the blockchain industry. Like a lot of companies, they’re trying to build a bridge between digital currency, the blockchain sector and traditional capital markets. Their value proposition is as an ancillary blockchain company—offering exposure to Bitcoin and Ethereum through their mining activities without the hassle of actually owning these assets. If Ethereum and Bitcoin are doing well, Hive does well. In theory. In practice, that’s not always the case, but you’ll have that.
“We also would like to provide an update on the BTC and ETH equivalency, where one can equate the value of the coins produced daily. As such, the ETH that Hive produced during the month of January, equated on a daily basis, is approximately equal to a monthly total of 161 BTC, which we refer to as bitcoin equivalent or BTC equivalent. This is in addition to the 264 BTC produced from our bitcoin mining operations during January for a total of 425 bitcoin equivalent,” said Aydin Kilic, president and chief operating officer of Hive.
The 10% growth in bitcoin’s network difficulty coupled with a 7.5% increase in ethereum’s network difficulty in January had an effect on the company’s production and gross profit margins. They’re saying the product would have been higher than it was, but the weather here in Canada caused Quebec Hydro to cut back 100 hours of energy consumption under a specific curtailment agreement. That’s going to happen. Quebec gets damn cold and sometimes people need to jack up their thermostats, and that’s going to eat into your mining juice. Something similar happened in New Brunswick, when the province jacked their energy prices for the season.
It’s still better than operating in Texas, likely because of their air conditioning costs. When it’s cold enough that no self-respecting polar bear is going to leave its den, then keeping your ASIC rigs cool is a lock.
Hive owns a green energy powered data centre facility in Canada, Sweden and Iceland, where it uses environmentally friendly energy to mine on the cloud and hodl both ETH and Bitcion. Since 2021, Hive has held most of its ETH and BTC rewards in secure storage.
—Joseph Morton