Bitcoin Mining Giant Core Scientific Ended October With $32M in Cash

Core Scientific (CORZ), the world's largest publicly listed miner by computing power, ended October with $32.2 million in cash and 62 BTC ($975,000) and reiterated that it may run out of money before the end of the year.

The company first warned of bankruptcy risk about a month ago, sending its shares plummeting about 80% on Nasdaq. The miner had 1,051 BTC and $29.5 million in cash at the end of September.

Core Scientific is one of several miners struggling to keep afloat as rising energy prices increase costs, and a stubbornly low bitcoin price slashes revenue. Compute North filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in late September, and Iris Energy has received a notice of default on its loans. Argo Blockchain (ARBK) and Greenidge Generation (GREE) have also said they are strapped for cash.

"We anticipate that existing cash resources will be depleted by the end of 2022 or sooner," Core Scientific said in its third-quarter earnings report, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday. "Depending on our assumptions regarding the timing and ability to achieve more normalized levels of operating revenue, the estimates of amounts of required liquidity vary significantly. Similarly, it is very difficult to predict when or if bitcoin prices will recover or energy costs will abate."

The mining firm is in talks with creditors to restructure its debt and raise capital. One lender, BlockFi, has been caught in the crossfire of crypto exchange FTX's collapse. The exchange had promised to bail out BlockFi with a $400 million credit facility, and that's now not likely to materialize. Core Scientific had about $54 million outstanding to BlockFi as of Sept. 30.

Core Scientific has been affected by the bankruptcy of lender Celsius's mining arm, one of its biggest clients. Celsius Mining filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July, and in September sued Core Scientific claiming that it violated automatic stay terms. Core Scientific claims Celsius owes it $5.2 million as of Sept. 30.

Two other companies sued CORZ in November: Sphere 3D (ANY) and McCarthy Building Companies. A class-action lawsuit was filed in the same month in Texas courts alleging failures to disclose important information to investors.

The miner was running 232,000 machines in its facilities as of the end of the quarter, accounting for 13 exahash per second (EH/s) of bitcoin self-mining computing power, or hashrate, and 9.5 EH/s of hosted machines for other firms, according to the filing. That's 8.6% of the global hashrate.

Read more: Crypto Miner Core Scientific Will Defend its Interests in Celsius Bankruptcy

UPDATE (Nov. 22, 14:42 UTC): Adds "reiterated" to subhead and first paragraph.