Canadian bitcoin mining firm HIVE Digital has signed a purchase agreement for 4,800 units of Bitmain’s Antminer S19k Pro in a bid to optimize its mining fleet.
The company said in a release on Tuesday that the equipment is expected to be delivered within 30 days. The purchase will add about 652 PH/s of computing power and is part of HIVE’s goal to upgrade its mining fleet efficiency from 38J/TH to 23J/TH. HIVE bought another 3,100 units of S19XP over the past six months.
As previously reported, HIVE operates about 4.1 EH/s in installed hashrate and its cost of bitcoin production surged to over $22k per BTC mined during Q3, which makes it one of the least efficient operations among public mining companies.
HIVE could face serious risks of mining at a gross loss after bitcoin’s halving next year if it does not substantially improve its fleet efficiency or lower energy rates.
HIVE said in its third-quarter earnings report last week that it sold all the mined bitcoin since July as well as 200 BTC from its reserves to cover operating and capital expenditures instead of issuing new shares or taking financial leverage.
As of the end of October, HIVE held less than 2,000 BTC on its balance sheet and was the fifth largest bitcoin holder among publicly traded mining companies.