Galaxy Digital, CoinShares Back Bitcoin Mining Intermediary Startup

Compass, a bitcoin mining startup, raised $1.7 million in seed funding led by Galaxy Digital, joined by CoinShares, CoinFund, CoinGecko and other cryptocurrency companies, according to a press release on Wednesday.

• Locations of the mining facilities working with Compass per its website include Iceland, Canada, Kazakhstan, Russia, China and the U.S.
• One of Compass' businesses is to serve as an intermediary between hosting facilities with excess capacity and institutional or retail customers interested in mining bitcoin.
• In its first two months, the company sold $11.4 million worth of mining machines to customers.
• "Without mining, there is no bitcoin," CEO Whit Gibbs said in the press release. He said Compass was launched to "ensure that everyone has the access and ability to grow their exposure" to bitcoin through participating in the infrastructure-level work of mining.
• Last month, bitcoin miners saw all-time high monthly revenue of $1.36 billion industrywide, per CoinDesk prior reporting.
• In a statement, the company said it plans to use the proceeds from the capital raise to quickly scale its team and mining technology.