Bitfury-Backed Group Mined 800 Bitcoins in Q1

The Bitfury-backed Hut 8 Mining Group mined more than 800 bitcoins in the first quarter of 2018, the company reported Thursday.

In a summary of its quarterly financial results, the company noted it raised $70 million CAD to continue investing in mining hardware, generated nearly $11 million CAD in revenue and is one step closer to opening another facility in Canada. Chief executive Andrew Kiguel said he was "pleased" with the work conducted so far, given that Hut 8 first began operations in late December 2017.

The 828 bitcoins mined in the first quarter of 2018 join another roughly 500 coins mined since December, meaning the company currently has a reserve of more than 1,300 bitcoins, he said in a statement. However, Hut 8 is not done developing its facilities: he noted that the company has begun construction of a new datacenter in the City of Medicine Hat, which will more than triple the company's mining capacity.

The new facility will launch production in September, he said, adding:

"The City of Medicine Hat site will consist of an additional 40 BlockBoxes. Once operational, Hut 8 will own 57 BlockBoxes, representing a 335 percent increase from current mining capacity, securing our position as one of the largest publicly traded Bitcoin miners in the world, with a total of 66.7 MW of power capacity and 448 PH/s. With this increase in BlockBoxes from 17 to 57, we expect that our daily mining production will increase significantly. We believe our City of Medicine Hat Facility will represent operational excellence and set a new global benchmark for industrial scale cryptocurrency mining operations."

At existing costs, Hut 8 spends approximately $2,615 CAD per bitcoin mined, according to the report. However, due to bitcoin's dropping price, it is recording a loss of nearly $4 million CAD on its profit margin. Excluding depreciation, its gross profit is nearly $9 million, the company said.

Datacenter image via Shutterstock