The cryptocurrency mining firm Canaan acquired a 49% stake in the joint venture ABC Projects from Cipher Mining. The transaction was valued at approximately $39.75 million.
Canaan paid for the acquisition with its own shares. Cipher will receive 53.7 million American Depositary Shares (ADS) of the company, valued at $0.7394 per share.
The parties agreed to a six-month lock-up period for the sale of these assets.
The ABC Projects venture comprises three data centres in Texas, USA, with a total capacity of 120 MW and a hashrate of 4.4 EH/s.
The primary advantage of these sites is the low electricity cost, averaging less than $0.03 per kWh. The controlling stake (51%) will remain with WindHQ.
As part of the deal, Canaan also acquired 6,840 Avalon A15Pro ASIC miners from Cipher. These devices previously operated at the Black Pearl site, which Cipher is now converting into a computing centre for artificial intelligence.
Canaan CEO Nangeng Zhang described the deal as a significant step towards entering the North American market. The manufacturer plans to directly develop infrastructure in the US, aiming to increase energy consumption to 1 GW by the end of 2026. This strategy will be implemented by combining traditional Bitcoin mining with AI data centres.
Cipher CEO Tyler Page noted that his company agreed to payment in shares, believing in Canaan’s long-term growth in the American market.
The miner reported a significant recovery in financial performance in the fourth quarter, with revenue reaching $196 million. This figure is 121% higher than the previous year and marks the company’s best quarterly sales performance in three years.
However, Canaan’s shares fell by 5.71% to $0.43. Over the past month, the stock price has decreased by 38.71%.
In January, Nasdaq notified Canaan of non-compliance with listing price requirements.