Bitcoin miner CleanSpark (Nasdaq: CLSK) has purchased 4,500 Antminer S19 bitcoin mining machines, funded partially by the sale of the company’s bitcoin holdings, CleanSpark announced Tuesday.
“By making a conscious effort to reinvest in additional production, we are taking a market-based approach to our mining operations and maximizing value for our shareholders,” said CleanSpark Chief Executive Officer Zach Bradford in a press release. “We understand that using our bitcoin to support our operations and expansion is a paradigm shift for the digital currency mining industry in North America.”
CleanSpark’s spending goes against the current trend of companies like Riot Blockchain, Marathon Digital and Hut 8, who are hoarding their produced bitcoin as the price surges to new highs.
The company’s latest purchase will add 450 PH/s in computing power, or almost 45% of CleanSpark’s current capacity, once the machines are fully operational. CleanSpark currently operates over 10,000 miners. The total number of miners slated for delivery over the next 12 months now totals 24,580.
Machine delivery is scheduled to begin next month and will be completed by July 2022. CleanSpark expects to have the data center capacity available for the machines to plug and play before each delivery.
CleanSpark previously announced a large purchase of bitcoin mining machines in April, and the company paid $6.6 million in August to acquire its second data center in Georgia. Last month, CleanSpark announced it’s moving its full mining power to the North American mining pool of Foundry, a subsidiary of CoinDesk owner Digital Currency Group (DCG).
Bitmain, the producer of the S19 Antminer machines, recently halted sales to Chinese customers amid the country’s crypto mining crackdown.
