Iris Energy Issues Investor Update, Announce Intention For Potential M&As

As part of its investor update for September, Bitcoin (BTC) miner Iris Energy announced its intention to partake in potential mergers and acquisitions (M&A). Iris Energy plans on embarking on this M&A journey in relation to its growth initiative of which the ongoing organic expansion is a part. 

So far, the BTC mining company has increased its average operational hash rate by more than 24% of its value last month of August. In August. It had a hash rate of 2,204 PH/s in August driven by the energy from the Prince George facility (50MW). While in September, it recorded a hash rate of 2,729 PH/s driven by the same energy facility.

Towards the end of September, there was a leap in the total operating capacity of Iris Energy surpassing 3.7 EH/s. Similarly, the amount of BTC mined increased by 8% from the previous month. In August, 301 BTC were mined consuming energy worth $2.4 million and in September, the number jumped to 325 at an energy cost of $2.9 million.

Mining Difficulty Jumps in August

The company has noted that the quantity of BTC mined was not commensurate to the new growth figure recorded in the company’s average operating hash rate. Consequently, the average difficulty-implied global hash rate at the time was considered to be an influencing factor. 

It was believed that the average difficulty-implied global hash rate is also the cause for the increase in the amount of energy consumed per BTC mined. Notably, mining difficulty skyrocketed by 9.26% by the end of August. This is the most significant increase it has experienced since the beginning of the year. 

In correlation to its ‘ongoing organic expansion’, Iris Energy signed an agreement with B. Riley, an investment banking firm for an option (not an obligation) to sell up to $100 million in ordinary shares.

Meanwhile, CleanSpark has leveraged the present market conditions to acquire more bitcoin mining machines.

The company announced its acquisition of 10,000 brand-new Bitmain Antminer S19j Pro units at a total price of $28 million from Cryptech Solutions. The Bitmain Antminer S19j Pro initially cost $116 per TH/s but CleanSpark purchased them at $28 per TH/s.