Riot Blockchain – one of the largest and most recognized crypto mining facilities in the world – reported that January was its best month to date in terms of crypto extraction. The company says it was able to pull as many as 740 BTC units from the blockchain two months ago, the most it’s ever done.
Riot Blockchain Saw Its Mining Figures Reach Sky High
This is good news in that everything we’ve heard ever since the midway point of 2022 suggests mining has become much harder given the bearish sentiment of the space. 2022 was easily the worst year for crypto in that all assets – not just bitcoin – went south and caused the space to lose more than $2 trillion in valuation in just under 12 months.
Bitcoin lost more than 70 percent of its value, falling from its mid-November 2021 all-time high of about $68,000 per unit into the mid-$16K range. It was a sad and ugly sight, and the crypto arena was also marred by bankruptcies galore and illicit players such as FTX.
Within all this hoopla surrounding the terrible state of crypto, mining has taken a real hit. Due to inflation, energy prices are skyrocketing, and with bitcoin and other assets having hit recent lows, the costs of mining crypto are now outweighing the scopes of the assets themselves. This means many miners are paying more to extract and are not receiving their due rewards.
Thus, this situation is quite special in that it gives hope to miners everywhere that the space isn’t dead yet. In addition, Riot has also suffered a reduction in mining machines and fleet numbers over the last several months, yet it was still able to pull off a record-high number, something else that the company needs to pat itself on the back for.
Not long ago, Riot was forced to shut its facility down temporarily and suffered damage due to heavy storms and harsh weather in Texas, where the company is situated. Jason Les – the CEO of Riot – explained in a recent interview:
Unfortunately, as a result of this damage, our previously announced target of reaching 12.5 EH/s in total hash rate capacity in Q1 2023 is expected to be delayed.
Refusing to Back Down
Still, however, such a setback wasn’t enough to cause Riot to fall back on its haunches in defeat. The company was still able to set its new record, and Les mentioned:
We are thankful for our team’s progress, despite difficult weather conditions, and are evaluating several options to bring online the approximately 1.9 EH/s of hash rate capacity still affected in building G.
In addition to pricing and inflation issues, the crypto mining scene continues to be hit hard by environmentalists who either want mining to disappear altogether or who continue to put pressure on miners to become fully green.
