A Niagara Falls, New York based substation owned by Bit Digital’s (BTBT.Q) hosting partner Blockfusion USA was damaged by an explosion and fire, cutting off power to 2,515 of their bitcoin miners and 710 Ethereum miners.

There isn’t believed to be any material damage to the mining centre building or to the company’s miners, and the explosion and fire were believed to be caused by the power utility. Blockfusion and the company are going to chase after reimbursement claims for lost revenue.

Blockfusion, its insurer and National Grid are working to restore power as fast as they can, and operations are expected to be back up in a few weeks but they can’t be certain about timing. Bit Digital’s management is monitoring the situation and Blockfusion’s pursuit of claims.

Bit Digital if you’re unfamiliar is a large scale publicly-traded bitcoin miner with operations throughout North America and a headquarters in New York. Their focus is on sustainability with the vast majority of their operations not reliant on fossil fuels. At present they’re working towards increasing their use of clean energy and chasing the goal of 100% sustainable power usage.

The company’s hosting partner, Digihost Technology, has informed the company that the loss of power to its North Tonawanda, New York, site took 1,580 miners offline, citing the need for approvals from power authorities. Digihost has already put in the applications and expects a response this month. They’re also waiting for approval from the New York Public Service Commission to complete their acquisition of the site’s 60MW power plant.

The overall effect of the explosion and fire was a 46.8% drop in the company’s operating hash rate, which is expected to have result in a dip in revenues until they get it fixed.

Beyond that, here’s how Bit Digital performed in April before the fire:

Corporate Highlights for April 2022

• In April 2022, the Company earned 76.23 bitcoins and 77.32 ETH.
• Treasury holdings of BTC and ETH were 754.32 and 323.95, with a fair market value of approximately $28.4 million and $1.1 million, respectively, on April 30, 2022.
• The Company owned 30,865 bitcoin miners and 731 Ethereum miners as of April 30, 2022, with an estimated maximum total hash rate of 1.9 EH/s and 0.3 TH/s, respectively.

Presumably, their next month’s update won’t look like this.

—Joseph Morton