Bitcoin Miner Merkle Increases Hashrate by 900% in 8 Months

Bitcoin miner Merkle Standard, which has a joint venture with Bitmain, one of the world’s largest bitcoin mining rig manufacturers, increased its total computing power or hashrate to 3.1 exahash (EH/s) from about 0.3 EH/s over the last eight months.

The privately held miner has brought an additional 40 megawatts (MW) of mining capacity in its South Carolina facility, bringing its total mining capacity to 140MW, according to a statement on Monday. The site will be mining bitcoin (BTC) using Bitmain’s latest mining rigs, the S19J Pro and S19 XP.

The crypto winter has clearly been rough for miners, who have seen profit margins shrink as bitcoin prices plunged more than 50% this year, while power prices soared and capital dried up. However, some miners, such as Merkle, have continued to build up their facilities during the bear market to solidify their position when the market eventually turns.

Read more: Amid Market Rout, Crypto Miners Are Still Building

The Blue Ridge in South Carolina is Merkle’s second facility and estimated to have 80MW worth of mining capacity by the end of 2024, according to its website. Meanwhile, Merkle’s main mining site in Eastern Washington currently has 100MW of power online, with 225MW slated for 2023 year-end and maximum expansion capacity of 500MW.

Merkle previously said on Jan. 21 that it had executed a purchase agreement with Bitmain for 13,500 ASIC miners, consisting of both S19 XP and S19J Pro mining rigs.

Read more: Bitmain Discounts Bitcoin Mining Machines in an Already Depressed Market