Mining
Alps Blockchain recently strengthened its partnership with Bitmain in order to expand its mining operations and expand its international presence.
In fact, through a new agreement with Bitmain to purchase additional Antminer S19 XP units, the Italian company aims to increase its Bitcoin mining operations and move closer to its goal of quadrupling its computing power capacity by the end of the year.
Below are all the details.
Alps Blockchain and collaboration with Bitmain to increase mining
Alps Blockchain, a leading Italian company in Bitcoin mining and the development of sustainable blockchain infrastructure solutions, recently announced the purchase of new hardware units from Bitmain as part of a deal worth a total of $32 million.
Specifically, the order includes Antminer S19 XPs, the most energy-efficient of the machines currently available on the market for mining, based on the SHA256 algorithm.
These devices can provide a computing power of 140 TH/s at 3 kW. It is also expected that all units will be delivered in separate batches by Bitmain between the second and third quarters of 2023.
Alps Blockchain intends to use the units acquired from Bitmain to expand its infrastructure internationally, focusing mainly on sites operated in South America, in order to reach a total computing power of more than 1.5 exahash per second (EH/s) once all units are operational.
This will represent an increase of about four times the company’s current hashrate. This latest hardware order, worth $16 million, is in addition to the first order, also worth $16 million, placed in the fourth quarter of 2022 under the same agreement.
These two recent orders follow a previous purchase made by the company in the second quarter of 2021, worth $25 million.
Since 2018, Alps Blockchain has focused its efforts on establishing mining farms that use renewable energy sources.
Alps Blockchain targets mining farm expansion
In Italy, the company is present in about 20 hydroelectric power plants, offering an innovative service for the hydropower sector.
This service consists of the design, installation and management of customized mining farms within the facilities themselves.
In March 2023, Alps Blockchain obtained new capital through an investment by the Azimut Group, totaling 40 million euros.
This funding helped support and accelerate the goals of internationalization, infrastructure growth, and development of sustainable mining solutions pursued by Alps Blockchain.
On Alps Blockchain’s new progress, Francesca Failoni, CFO of Alps Blockchain, said the following:
“The agreement with Bitmain further consolidates the strategic partnership established with our company, opening up new design possibilities. For Alps Blockchain, it represents an important step along our path of sustainable development and growth in the mining industry, and brings us ever closer to the goals set for 2023.
In just over four years, Alps Blockchain has experienced growth progressive and now aims to implement the activity aiming at consolidating the business model in Italy, at internationalization and at the creation of new infrastructures.
Thanks to this new order, we will be able to focus all our attention on expanding the mining farms at our sites in the coming months.”
On the other hand, Xmei Lin, Bitmain’s Sales Manager, said:
“We are thrilled that Alps Blockchain has increased its computing power thanks to the purchase of Bitmain’s mining machines. This demonstrates our commitment to rewarding our established partners and our dedication to fostering mutually beneficial relationships.
We look forward to the opportunity to share resources, shape profitable policies, and create win-win situations with partners like Alps Blockchain. We are proud to be a part of their journey and look forward to what the future holds.”
Azimut’s $40 million investment in Alps Blockchain
In March, asset manager Azimut organized a club deal to invest in Alps Blockchain. Azimut’s investment of 40 million euros was made through Azimut Enterprises S.r.l and Azimut Direct Investment Alps Blockchain SCSp, a Luxembourg-based vehicle that allowed around 600 clients in Italy to participate in the deal.
This investment involved the acquisition of 45% of Alps Blockchain’s shares and a convertible loan. As Azimut also explained, Alps Blockchain is a Trentino-based company specializing in research and development in the field of mining.
Its goal is to produce computing power for blockchain through the creation and operation of state-of-the-art data centers using renewable energy sources.
So far, Alps Blockchain has completed the construction of more than 20 data centers, housing a total of about 3,950 miners, which are hardware dedicated to mining.
In addition to data centers located within Italian hydroelectric power plants and operated as service providers, the company also directly operates other data centers located abroad.
