HIVE Blockchain begins deploying Intel-chip Bitcoin miners

In November, the mining company HIVE Blockchain generated 264 BTC and received the first 262 new installations for mining digital gold based on Intel ASIC chip.

A further 420 units of HIVE BuzzMiner are expected next week. The total shipments of this type of miners will be 5,800 units with a total hash rate of around 630 PH/s. The whole batch is expected to arrive in December–January.

In the same time frame, the company plans to receive the purchased 2,130 Antminer S19j Pro units from Bitmain, 1,930 of which are factory-fresh. Their deployment will add another 185 PH/s to computational power.

The average HIVE hash rate for the month reached 2.51 EH/s, including the GPU fleet.

The company stressed that all equipment belongs to the company and carries no debt obligations.

“Our GPU fleet uses a unique algorithm for mining altcoins, which are exchanged for bitcoins, so we earn and store only them. This month the GPUs produced 39.3 BTC. This is in addition to 224.7 BTC from ASIC miners. In total — 264 BTC,” said HIVE president Aydin Kilic.

According to the company’s statement, amid volatility in the electricity market it focuses not on maximum utilisation of the equipment but on profitability.  

“Sometimes selling energy back to the grid can contribute to this when it is more profitable than mining”, said HIVE.

Using a similar capability Riot Blockchain earned $13.1 million in Q3 from curtailment of its equipment. The company estimated that this equivalent to mining 760 BTC over the period. Physically, the firm mined 1,042 BTC in three months.

Earlier, HIVE signed an agreement with Intel to purchase mining equipment based on the company’s chip in March.

To fund the deal, in June the company sold approximately 10,000 ETH.

In July Intel announced the start of deliveries to select customers.

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