Miner Weekly: The Return of Bitcoin HODL Despite Bleak Q2 Margins
Pure-play miners going Microstrategy route
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This article first appeared in Miner Weekly, BlocksBridge Consulting’s weekly newsletter curating the latest news in bitcoin mining and data analysis from TheMinerMag. Subscribe to receive in your inbox once a week.
Riot Platforms was the first public mining company to disclose financial and operational data for Q2 this week and the report paints a picture of the harsh margins of bitcoin mining in the post-halving world, a scenario likely shared by many others set to release their earnings in the coming weeks.
The Texas-based mining giant produced 845 BTC in Q2, generating a revenue of $55.8 million, implying an average revenue of $66k per BTC. According to TheMinerMag’s analysis, Riot’s direct cost of bitcoin production after power credits was $25.3k (It would be $41.7k before power credits). The corporate overhead for the mining segment was estimated to be $27.4k based on a revenue fair share approach.
In total, Riot’s all-in mining cost amounted to $52.7k per BTC in Q2, net of power credits. This means the mining segment, which comprises 78% of Riot’s total revenue, had a net profit of $11.2 million in Q2 for a fleet of over 15 EH/s.
Besides proprietary mining, Riot has an engineering segment and some residual revenues from the discontinued hosting business. Considering all factors, the company generated a profit of just $1.22 million, net of stock-based compensation, and before depreciation and tax.
This situation is due to the brutal impact of bitcoin’s halving and the sluggish hashprice. In fact, Riot managed to reduce its hashcosts in Q2 compared to Q1 as it braced for the halving’s impact. However, despite these efforts, bitcoin mining isn’t generating much cash flow at the moment for Riot, and possibly many others, due to the low hashprice below $50/PH/s.
Interestingly though, pure-play bitcoin mining companies like Riot and CleanSpark did not sell any bitcoin in Q2 to cover operating costs, despite the low hashprice and margin. Instead, they raised sufficient proceeds through stock offerings to fund both capital and operating expenditures. MARA did sell some of its mined bitcoin in Q2 but announced last month that it would return to the full HODL mode.
Their bet is on the long-term appreciation of bitcoin. Riot, Mara and CleanSpark alone were holding 34,461 BTC as of June 30.
Here is the schedule of upcoming Q2 earnings:
Marathon: Aug 1, 5:00 p.m. EDT
Northern Data: Aug 6, 3:00 p.m. Central European Summer Time
Core Scientific: Aug 7, 3:00 p.m. Central Time
Cipher: Aug 13, 8:00 a.m. EDT
Hut 8: Aug 13, 8:30 a.m. EDT
Regulation News
Russia to Legalize Crypto Mining Effective November – TheMinerMag
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