Compass Energizes 5.5 MW in North Dakota Amid Bitcoin Hashrate Drop

Compass Mining has energized 5.5 megawatts (MW) of a new 20 MW Bitcoin mining facility in North Dakota, utilizing the water-cooled Antminer S21 Hydro equipment.

Compass, which brokers mining rigs and offers colocation services to retail and institutional buyers, announced the development on Wednesday. The new site, named North Dakota 2, currently supports 1,000 S21 Hydro units, with the remaining capacity set to be phased in over the coming months.

This expansion, featuring the latest generation of mining equipment, comes at a time when Bitcoin’s network has seen a decline in average hashrate. The drop is attributed to the hashprice squeeze, which has led to the capitulation of older equipment, including the S19 series.

Network data reveals that Bitcoin’s seven-day moving average hashrate has decreased to 753 EH/s, the lowest level since early December. This has triggered a recent downward difficulty adjustment.

Bitmain’s Antminer S21 Hydro model has a nameplate efficiency of 16 J/TH, which, at Bitcoin’s current hashprice of $51/PH/s, generates a revenue of about $0.135 per kilowatt-hour.

According to Compass’ latest facility update on February 24, the company is operating approximately 96 MW of Bitcoin mining capacity across multiple states in the U.S., either through proprietary ownership or facility partnerships.

In addition to Compass Mining, North Dakota has also attracted other public mining companies, including Northern Data’s Peak Mining and Phoenix Group, as previously reported.