Global Crypto Mining News (Oct 31 to Nov 6)

Bitcoin miner Argo Blockchain's previous $27 million funding plan has been announced as a failure. The Company sold 3,843 new-in-box Bitmain S19J Pro machines for cash proceeds of $5.6 million. If Argo is unsuccessful in completing any further financing, Argo would become cash flow negative in the near term and would need to curtail or cease operations.

Recently, the city of Daqing, Heilongjiang Province, has launched a campaign to rectify virtual currency "mining" activities. The scope of remediation includes virtual currency "mining" enterprises and individuals disguised as data centers; enterprises and individuals who provide sites for virtual currency "mining" activities; enterprises and individuals who obtain electricity supply through illegal means and engage in virtual currency "mining" activities; enterprises, Internet cafes and individuals who conduct "mining" in other hidden forms. etc.

Bondholders of leading U.S. bitcoin miner Core Scientific have hired a law firm to advise them on a possible bankruptcy. As of October 26, the company held only 24 bitcoins and approximately $26.6 million in cash. Core Scientific is exploring potential strategic options to raise capital, including swapping existing debt for equity or additional debt, asset sales, equity or debt financing.

Bitcoin miner Iris Energy (IREN) said some of its mining equipment, owned by special-purpose vehicles, aren't producing enough cash to meet its financing obligations. The equipment has a market value "well below the principal amount of the relevant loans" and that it is in talks with the lender. The special-purpose vehicles aren't guaranteed by the parent company, and the lenders have no recourse to the company or any of its assets, Iris Energy said.（CoinDesk）

Bitmain released a letter of appointment of cadres signed by Chairman Zhan Ke Tuan on November 1, appointing Xiao Shengqiang as president of the mining business unit for a term of four years and removing Du Shi Sheng as president of the mining business unit and EMT member. Xiao Shengqiang is the former Bitmain Shenzhen finance officer.

On November 2, Bitmain issued an all-employee letter requesting employees who have engaged in corrupt practices to report them voluntarily by November 6, and the company will not pursue their criminal liability. Corrupt practices include soliciting and accepting customer/supplier kickbacks and bribes, profiting from sales/purchase pass-through differences, including direct profits and profits through external white gloves.

Riot announced that it produced 509 BTC in October. Riot held approximately 6,825 BTC, all produced by its self-mining operations. Riot sold 450 BTC, generating net proceeds of approximately $8.7 million. As North American miners continue to crash, Marathon and Riot are now the largest publicly traded miners by market capitalization.

One miner making strides in the bear market is CleanSpark, which has been buying up thousands of discounted mining machines, as well as two mining sites. CleanSpark isn’t the only minder in good shape. Riot Blockchain, Marathon Digital and BitFarms were all mentioned positively by analysts in the run-up to results. Among other things, Marathon’s biggest hosting provider, Computing North, filed bankruptcy during the quarter. （TheBlock）

Future FinTech Group Inc., a blockchain application technology developer and a fintech service provider, announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, FTFT SuperComputing Inc., has completed the first construction phase of the build-out of its cryptocurrency mining farm in northwest Ohio. Following testing procedures, on October 24, 2022, the first batch Antminer S19 series mining machines were successfully put into operation.（PR News Wire）

Two investment banks downgraded their ratings on shares of bitcoin miner Argo Blockchain. Investment bank Canaccord Genuity cut its rating to hold from buy, and lowered its target for the company's American Depositary Shares (ARBK) to $1 from $10. Jefferies also downgraded the company to hold from buy, and lowered the price target to $1.10 from $13.（CoinDesk）

10.

Adjusted on-chain bitcoin and Ethereum trading volume fell 35.1% to $237 billion in October, according to data released by Lars, head of research at The Block. Adjusted on-chain stablecoin trading volume fell 24.2 percent to $58.4 billion. Bitcoin miner revenue increased 7.2% to $589.9 million. Ether NFT market trading volume fell a further 25.1% to $377.5 million. Legitimate CEX spot trading volume decreased 25.9% to $543.8 million.

11.

Lending firm Generate Capital is buying up bitcoin mining hosting firm Compute North's stake in two mega-mining facilities for $5 million, as Tuesday bankruptcy filings show.

Under the agreement, generate paid $5 million in cash and assumed the liabilities associated with the two sites, which have a combined operating capacity of 400 megawatts.

As previously reported, in September, Compute North Chief Financial Officer Harold Coulby issued a statement saying that the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after a dispute with Generate Capital led to a breakdown in its capital chain. Generate Capital provided a $300 million loan to Compute North in February, then used the terms of the contract to take control of all aspects of Compute North's business in July, and still has $100 million in outstanding loans.

Harold Coulby said that while Compute North is in the process of selling assets and other financing options to obtain funds, it may not be able to meet the time constraints of the out-of-court restructuring.（CoinDesk）

12.

Bitcoin miner Stronghold Digital completes debt restructuring. Paid off the last $2.1 million of approximately $67.4 million of outstanding debt of bitcoin investment companies NYDIG and The Provident Bank (BankProv) (agreed to deliver 26,200 mining machines to NYDIG and BankProv), as well as closed its previously announced WhiteHawk restructuring and credit facility agreement, resulting in $23 million of additional borrowing capacity to high profitability and liquidity and reduce debt leverage.

Stronghold has currently liquidity of about $30 million, including $29 million in unrestricted cash and bitcoin.（CoinDesk）

13.

Bitcoin crypto miner Marathon Digital produced 615 BTC in October, setting the company's highest single-month production record for BTC to date. Marathon expects their mining capacity to rise further in the coming year, reaching a total of 23 EH/s by the middle of fiscal year 2023 based on current construction and installation schedules. （Bitcoinist）

14.

The deadline for completing a merger that would see crypto-mining firm Bitdeer go public on the Nasdaq might be extended by up to one year, a Wednesday filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission shows.

Last year, Bitdeer announced that it was merging with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Blue Safari Group Acquisition Corp. But according to Wednesday's filing, the SPAC will hold a shareholder meeting to vote on extending the deadline to close the deal to as late as Dec. 14, 2023. （CoinDesk）

Top Speed Energy (www.tsedata.com) is committed to spearheading the definition of cryptocurrency mining services in North America.

With years of experience in the local natural gas landscape (original website: www.topspeedenergy.com), on top of run-of-the-mill Grid-powered Bitcoin mining facilities, TSE also extends to set up 100% natural gas-powered facilities as well as 100% hydroelectric ones across a plethora of states and provinces in USA and Canada, including but not limited to Texas, Ohio, North Dakota, British Columbia, and Alberta.

TSE features a double-shift operation and maintenance team, delivering one-hour response promise to ensure the streamline operations of clients’s miners all year around.

Being a local player in North America, TSE poses itself as a trustworthy partner to international clientele — it can assist foreign clients with local incorporation registry, tax planning among with legal advice to help them enter the North American mining market safely and worry-free, in a compliant way.

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