Australia’s Iris Energy to expand Bitcoin mining capacity with latest mining machine

11 months ago 50

Double mining capacity, AI compatible

Australian crypto asset (virtual currency) mining company Iris Energy Limited announced on the 15th that it will increase its self-mining capacity to 10EH/s (exahash per second) by increasing its mining machines.

The company will purchase Bitmain T21, a state-of-the-art mining machine, worth 3.2 billion yen ($22.3 million).

The announced order is 1.6 EH/s and is expected to be delivered in the second quarter of 2024 (April to June).

Regarding previous orders, Bitmain S21 miner with mining capacity equivalent to 1.4 EH/s and Bitmain T21 miner with mining capacity equivalent to 1.3 EH/s will be released in the first quarter of 2024 (January-March). It is scheduled to be delivered.

Iris Energy currently has a mining capacity of 5.6 EH/s, which is expected to reach 10 EH/s once all of these are operational.

The company also reported that initial construction is underway on a 100 megawatt (MW) data center in Childress, Texas.

Iris Energy is a Bitcoin mining company that uses 100% renewable energy. In addition to mining, we are also working on a data center business for generative artificial intelligence (AI) computing. In August, the company invested approximately 1.4 billion yen ($10 million) to purchase 248 of the latest Nvidia H100 GPUs. These are expected to be delivered by the end of 2023.

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The ANTMINER T21 that Iris Energy ordered this time was just announced by Bitmain in October, and is the latest model with good thermal efficiency.

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Will the mining industry reorganize due to the halving?

The Bitcoin (BTC) halving, scheduled for April to May 2024, may trigger a reorganization of the mining industry.

On the 5th, Marathon Digital Holdings, a major U.S. cryptocurrency mining company listed on Nasdaq, updated the latest status of Bitcoin mining. In it, he states:

In anticipation of the next Bitcoin network halving, we continue to accumulate liquidity on our balance sheet to take advantage of strategic opportunities, including industry consolidation.

As of November 30, Marathon held approximately 114 billion yen ($802.3 million) in cash and cash equivalents and Bitcoin.

Although the price of Bitcoin is expected to rise during the halving, Bitcoin mining fees will be reduced by 50%, making it increasingly important for mining companies to improve the efficiency of their business operations.

Ethan Vera, head of US mining services company Luxor Technologies, said it is possible to gain economies of scale through mergers, and that there will likely be more mergers, especially between private and public companies.

The next Bitcoin halving is scheduled for around April 18, 2024, and mining rewards will be reduced from the current 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC.

What is half-life?

It refers to the timing when the mining reward (= new issuance amount) of virtual currencies such as Bitcoin is reduced by half. Many virtual currencies have an “issuance limit” set in order to prevent inflation, and the amount of new issuance is reduced by half at each halving period that occurs at a certain period. It is also a noteworthy event unique to virtual currencies, as the scarcity value increases significantly as the supply decreases, making it easier for prices to soar.

Virtual currency glossary