Bitcoin mining in the firing line, CleanSpark expands operations

Bitcoin mining company CleanSpark has announced new acquisitions in the US state of Mississippi to increase its hashrate. However, the move comes amid heightened regulatory scrutiny of the industry from anti-crypto politicians.

CleanSpark has acquired three key Bitcoin mining sites in Mississippi for $19.8 million, according to a February 6 announcement.

CleanSpark Bitcoin Mining Expansion

The two Mississippi sites are expected to provide 2.4 EH/s (exahashes per second) of hashing power. The company acquired a third mining site under construction in Dalton, Georgia for $3.4 million. The Dalton site is expected to operate at 0.8 EH/s when completed in April 2024.

With the two existing Dalton facilities, CleanSpark will have a total capacity of 2.4 EH/s there. Combined with the Sanderville expansion, these deals will increase capacity to more than 20 EH/s by the first half of 2024, doubling the current operating hash rate of 10 EH/s.

CEO Zach Bradford commented on the expansion:

“By adding Mississippi to our portfolio, we are gradually increasing our geographic diversity and applying our proven track record of success to this new and exciting operating environment.”

In January, CleanSpark announced a strategic deal to buy up to 160,000 S21 miners.

However, the move comes amid growing political backlash against Bitcoin mining in the United States.

On January 31, the US Energy and Information Administration (EIA) announced that it has begun collecting data on electricity usage by crypto miners.

Politically motivated attack

However, industry activists and energy experts called the move a politically motivated attack on crypto. Brian Morgenstern, head of public policy at Riot Pathways, said on February 6.

“There is nothing accidental and this has nothing to do with transparency. It's a politically motivated attack on Bitcoin led by self-appointed ‘anti-crypto' Senator Elizabeth Warren.”

The data shows that miners increase grid stability and have a negative correlation with grid stress.

Read more: Is Crypto Mining Profitable in 2024?

Crypto ESG campaigner Daniel Batten commented:

“Meaning Senator Warren has all the information she needs from EIA to launch new attack on Bitcoin ‘public harm'.”

The myriad grid-stabilization, renewable-transition-enabling, decarbonization, and cost-reduction benefits of bitcoin have not been investigated, he says.

The owners and operators of the power grid have shown evidence of all this. Independent reports from KPMG and peer-reviewed studies from Cornell University also complement this.

“Truth is not important,” Batten said before adding.

“The key is to have enough partial information to spin history and spark enough moral outrage to deliver the desired effect to its bankers: activate regulators to weaken Bitcoin as an asset class and Bitcoin mining as an industry.