- This move marks yet another step for Bitfarms in its journey to expand in the US.
- Bitfarms inked a deal to acquire rival Stronghold Digital last week.
Bitcoin mining firm Bitfarms has signed a definitive lease agreement with a data center in Sharon, Pennsylvania, that will add up to 120 megawatts (MW) to its operations by 2025 end. This is the miner’s first large-scale site in the US, aligning with its rapid expansion plans in the country.
With this agreement, it has closed 110 MW of power capacity, with 30 MW expected to go online by the end of this year. The firm also signed a letter of intent to lease another 10 MW by the end of next year.
Bitfarms CEO Ben Gagnon spoke about leasing the site, “This site increases our U.S. presence nearly sevenfold and kickstarts our aggressive U.S. growth plan.” Regarding the site’s location, Gagnon mentioned, “The Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland (PJM) grid is the largest wholesale electricity market in the U.S., offering abundant access to competitively priced and flexible power that is attractive for Bitcoin mining, energy trading, and HPC/AI, among other uses.”
The site will offer over eight exahashes of power for Bitfarms’ Bitcoin mining activities alone, provided the miner utilizes the latest generation mining rigs. That will allow it to curtail power consumption and significantly cut down on costs. “Our team has already ordered the necessary equipment, and our current expectation is to bring 30 MW of capacity online by year-end 2024,” said Gagnon.
Bitfarms Is Proactively Making Strides in the US
Bitfarms also announced its acquisition of US-incorporated mining rival Stronghold Digital last week for a whopping $125 million, marking yet another development in its bids to establish itself in the country. With the acquisition and access to the new mega-site, Bitfarms moves ahead to achieve 950 MW capacity by 2025 end.
The rapid expansion plans, also observed with other miners, stem from the decreased mining rewards since April due to the Bitcoin halving. Mining firms are merging with or acquiring other firms, gaining access to data centers, and expanding to provide services to high-performance computing (HPC) and AI companies to make up for that and increase revenues.
