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Lost Treasure Found? Bitcoin Miner Transfers Over $3 Million BTC After 14-Year Dormancy

According to the on-chain analysis platform Lookonchian, a long-dormant Bitcoin (BTC) wallet dating back to April 2010, recently transferred 50 BTC, equivalent to $3.328 million.

Unraveling The Transaction: An Exploration of Potential Motives

As reported by Lookonchian, 50 BTC mined over 14 years ago, when each block reward was 50 BTC, was divided into two transactions: 17 BTC ($1.1 million) for one wallet and 33 BTC ($2.2 million) for another.

The recipient wallet receiving 17 BTC has shown patterns of frequent transactions, possibly indicating its association with a cryptocurrency exchange, particularly Coinbase.

The analysis further reveals that the Bitcoin sent to this wallet was subsequently merged with funds from other wallets associated with Coinbase, suggesting a possible deposit into the exchange.

On the other hand, the remaining 33 BTC were transferred to a new wallet. This could indicate that this Bitcoin may have effectively remained within the miner’s control but under a new address, a common practice to enhance transaction privacy.

Bitcoin Recovery Amid Impending Halving

This recent activity coincides with Bitcoin’s rebound following a sharp decline that saw its price plummet from over $70,000 to $62,000 over the weekend. However, at the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading at $64,109, marking a 0.5% increase in value over the past 24 hours.

Bitcoin (BTC) price chart on TradingView

This surge in price comes amidst anticipation of the upcoming Bitcoin Halving scheduled to take place in the next 5 days on April 20.

Notably, the Bitcoin Halving is a programmed event that occurs approximately every four years or after every 210,000 blocks are mined. Bitcoin miners’ reward for validating transactions and securing the network is cut in half during this event.

When Bitcoin was launched in 2009, the reward was initially set at 50 BTC per block. However, the reward has been halved, reducing the rate at which new BTC is created. This adjustment is designed to control the supply of Bitcoin, making it more scarce over time and ultimately contributing to its deflationary nature.

Furthermore, recent reports indicate that BTC miners could face losses exceeding $10 billion due to the upcoming Halving event. As Bloomberg reported, this loss could result from several factors, including miners facing intensified competition from AI companies.

Core Scientific CEO Adam Sullivan noted the tightening availability of power in the US, driven partly by tech giants like Amazon investing heavily in data centers. This competition for resources presents further obstacles for miners seeking affordable power contracts.

Featured image from Unsplash, Chart from TradinView

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Winds Of Change: Bitcoin Miner Riot Sees Substantial Increase In BTC Holdings

Bitcoin mining has been up by a considerable fraction this year, as the blockchain network recorded a new all-time high in hash rate in the second quarter of the year. Mining revenue is also up, as the bitcoin Bitcoin recorded a spike in transaction volume. 

As a result, Riot Blockchain, one of the largest publicly traded Bitcoin mining companies in the US, has recorded an increase in operations in the second quarter. According to its 2023 second-quarter financial results, the mining company recorded a new all-time record hash while ramping up its Bitcoin mining operations.

Solid Second Quarter 2023

According to its financial report, Riot has seriously ramped up its Bitcoin mining operations. As a result, the mining company produced 1,775 BTC during the second quarter of 2023, a 27% increase compared to the 1,395 BTC it produced during that same period in 2022. 

In May 2023 alone, the company produced 676 BTC at an average of 21.8 BTC per day. The average cost to mine each bitcoin was $8,389, beating Q2 2022’s average of $11,316.

Riot also witnessed an increase in mining revenue, as Bitcoin miners generated a remarkable total revenue of $2.4 billion. Although the price of Bitcoin during the quarter was 15% less than what it was in Q2 2022, Riot saw a total revenue of $76.7 million, as compared to $72.9 million in Q2 2022. Mining revenue ($49.7 million), engineering revenue ($19.3 million), data hosting revenue ($7.7 million), and power curtailment credits ($13.5 million) were also higher than in Q2 2022. 

Not only has RIOT’s revenue from bitcoin mining increased, but their actual bitcoin holdings have also grown substantially. As of June 30, Riot held 7,264 BTC with the price of each BTC at $30,477.

In total, Riot finished the quarter with $408.4 million in working capital, including $289.2 million in cash on hand and $221.4 million in Bitcoin, while also reducing its net loss to $27.7 million compared to $353.6 million in Q2 2022.

Bitcoin (BTC) price chart from Tradingview.com (Riot Blockchain)

Increase In Bitcoin Mining Power

Riot Blockchain also drastically increased its hash rate throughout the quarter, reaching an all-time record hash rate capacity of 10.7 EH/s. However, the company is also looking to enhance its computational power. 

During the quarter, the company signed a long-term purchase agreement with MicroBT to acquire 33,280 next-generation miners. With an expanded mining fleet and facility, Riot believes it can see its hash rate grow to 20.1 EH/s by the second quarter of 2024. 

Bitcoin mining is an energy-intensive process. However, Riot’s power strategy contributes to the stability of the energy grid in Texas at times of high demand by selling extra power back to the grid. At the time of writing Riot’s stock is up by 1.53% in a daily timeframe and 158.14% in the past six months.

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Bitcoin Miner Revenues Continue To Plunge, But Will The Rally Change This?

Bitcoin miner revenues have been plummeting ever since the price of BTC peaked back in November. This has put miners in a tight spot, causing a good number of them to sell their BTC holdings in order to keep financing their operations. The same was the case for last week, where miner revenues were once again in the red. However, as the tide begins to change in the crypto market, there may be light at the end of the tunnel for miners.

Miner Revenues Down 4%

For the past month, daily miner revenues have been trending above $18 million but continued recording losses with each passing week. Last week would put an end to this trend when miner revenue fell once again, this time by 4.03%, causing average daily revenues to drop below $18 million. Reports show that miners saw an average of $17.7 million in revenues, more than 60% down from its peak back in November.

Related Reading | Ethereum Classic (ETC) Reclaims $3 Billion Market Cap, More Upside To Follow?

What followed this was a sell-off from bitcoin miners across the space. As the profitability plummeted, more BTC had to be offloaded by miners to provide cash flow for their operations. In June alone, miners had sold off 25% of their holdings, and with the prices remaining low, reports for July are expected to show even higher sales for the month of July.

For the last two months, bitcoin miners have been selling more BTC than they were producing. For the month of May, they had sold more than 100% of the BTC produced. This number had jumped 400% in June when public miners sold approximately 14,600 BTC when they had only produced a total of 3,900 BTC, accounting for 25% of all of their holdings.

BTC drops to $22,700 | Source: BTCUSD on TradingView.com

Surprisingly, fees per day were up 12.61% last week, which brought the percentage of revenue gotten from fees to 2.59%, a 0.38% increase from the prior week.

Will The Bitcoin Rally Help?

The recent rally in the market has seen the price of bitcoin reclaim key technical levels and reach one-month highs. The digital asset had even briefly touched above $24,000 before trending back down, and the first half of the week had been green for the digital asset.

Related Reading | Why Bitcoin Must Beat $25,500 To Establish A Bull Rally

Since the profitability of bitcoin mining is directly tied to the price of the digital asset, it is safe to assume that there may be some uptick in miner revenues for this week. Given that price was trending around $19,000 for most of last week, an increase above $22,000 will see public bitcoin miners realize more revenue from their mining operations.

However, given that the price had not recovered by a wide margin, the rise in daily miner revenue is expected to remain under double-digits. It is also important to note that there is more demand for block space, leading to higher transaction fees on the network, contributing more to the daily miner revenues.

Featured image from GoBankingRates, chart from TradingView.com

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‘Bitcoin Rush’: Small-Time Solo Miners Strike Gold With Full BTC Blocks

Small-time bitcoin miners are making headlines for essentially hitting the jackpot by mining full blocks all on their own. In what has become a modern-day ‘gold rush’, bitcoin enthusiasts are now taking to booting up small USB miners will tiny hash rates to try their luck in what is eerily similar to buying lottery tickets. Among the miners who have rushed to this, a few have hit the ultimate prize.

Solo Bitcoin Miner Gets Full Block

In an unlikely event, a solo miner was able to mine a full bitcoin block with a low hash rate. This was made public by Dr. Kolivas, a software engineer that contributed to the development of the Cgminer. He revealed that the solo bitcoin miner had been able to solve a full block by themselves using only 86TH. This took place at a block height of 270,175.

Congratulations to another miner with approximately 86TH solving a solo block on https://t.co/UWgBvLkDqc ! There are a lot more miners now on the solo pool and if enough people are mining solo, someone will eventually be the lucky one as here. https://t.co/Hqte2achR4 pic.twitter.com/0ZT635LicD

— Dr. Con Kolivas (@ckpooldev) January 24, 2022

Related Reading | Bitcoin Leverage: Lack Of Liquidations Could Indicate Another Wave Of Selling 

The miner who is part of a mining pool that allows solo miners pool their hash rates together to increasing their chances of solving a block was able to get the full block reward after solving. The miner had gotten the full block reward of 6.25 BTC, netting them a total of more than $220,000 at current prices, in addition to the transaction fee paid to the block miner.

With such low computational power as the one possessed by this miner, it makes it near impossible for them to be able to mine a block by themselves. They would not be the first to get lucky.

Two weeks ago, another solo miner from the same mining pool had hit the same jackpot, mining a block and earning the full block reward plus transaction fees.

The BTC Rush

One thing about proof of work mechanisms is the high computation power required to mine bitcoin blocks. As more players enter into the mining space, armed with millions of dollars in institutional backing, being a small-time miner is nearly unprofitable. This is why mining pools like the ckpool exist.

BTC recovers above $36,000 | Source: BTCUSD on TradingView.com

In these pools, solo miners are able to bring their low computational power together to increase their chances of finding a block. Dr. Kolivas explained that while this miner had fluctuated in their mining power, they were able to solve the block with only 8.3 terahashes.

Related Reading | Anthony Scaramucci Urges Bitcoin Holders To Think Long-Term As Downtrend Won’t Last

Laying out the math, he explained that by pooling their hashes, miners were able to increase their chances of solving a block to a 1 in 5 chance or a 20% chance. As more miners join the pool, the chances to go solve a block go up. In a reply to another user, Dr. Kolivas explains that if the current hashrate were to increase by 4, then the chances of mining a block jump to 63%.

Featured image from Pinterest, chart from TradingView.com

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Bitcoin Mining Company Griid Set To List On NYSE Via $3.3 Billion Merger Deal

Griid, an Ohio-based Bitcoin self-mining company, is the latest Bitcoin miner to list on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). It would go public by merging with Adit EdTech Acquisition Corp at a $3.3 billion enterprise valuation.

Adit EdTech, a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC), announced the merger in a filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Tuesday. The sole purpose of a SPAC is to acquire a private company and make it go public. It is also called a blank check company.

Related Reading | Bitcoin Mining Firm Argo Blockchain To Raise $57.5M Via Senior Notes Offering

Griid will list on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “GRDI” after both parties close the merger, expected by the first quarter of next year. That is, subject to conditions including regulatory approvals and approval of Adit EdTech’s stockholders. Subsequently, the bitcoin mining company will receive about $246 million in cash from Adit EdTech.

Another Bitcoin Mining Company Goes Public

The SPAC deal comes just after Griid secured a $525 million credit facility from Blockchain.com.

According to an investor presentation that Adit EdTech published recently, Griid expects to mine 637 BTC this year. By 2024, the company forecasts up to 24,348 BTC per year.

Speaking on the merger, Trey Kelly, founder and CEO of Griid, said, “We are building an American infrastructure company with the largest pipeline of committed, carbon-free power among public bitcoin miners at the lowest cost of scaled production. Our team has demonstrated a track record of successful execution over the past three years since starting the company, and we look forward to delivering expansion of capacity through this transaction.”

CEO of Adit EdTech David Shrier also emphasized the importance of Carbon-free Bitcoin mining. “GRIID’s combination of a large pipeline of low-cost, carbon-free power, distinctive access to next-generation ASICs, and market-leading execution position them to generate attractive profitability and growth.”

BTC trading at $56.9K | Source: BTCUSD on TradingView.com

There has been a high rate of both individual and institutional Bitcoin adoption this year. Consequently, mining companies all over the world are going public via SPACs or traditional initial public offerings (IPOs). Last month, Australian Bitcoin miner Iris Energy filed to raise $100 million via a direct listing in the U.S.
Earlier this month, a Singapore-based cryptocurrency miner Bitdeer Technologies announced its plan to list in the U.S. via a $4 billion deal with SPAC Blue Safari Group Acquisition Corp.

Mining In The U.S.

The U.S. has become the number one destination for bitcoin miners, thanks to China’s ongoing crackdown.

About a year ago, China was the market leader in terms of hash rate. However, the crypto crackdown changed that story almost overnight.
Majority of the miners that fled China relocated to America in what was dubbed “the great mining migration.”

Related Reading | Bitcoin Mining In The U.S.: 4 States Attract The Most Miners

This migration resulted in the U.S. becoming a global mining hub. And with the mining machine preorders and hash rate projections for 2022, this will not change anytime soon.

Featured image by Reuters, Chart from TradingView.com