Alborz, a joint venture between bitcoin miner Cipher (CIFR) and renewable energy company WindHQ, has received a two-year, $46.9 million secured credit facility from crypto lender BlockFi Lending to purchase mining rigs, according to a press release.
- The proceeds will be used to purchase Bitmain S19J Pro mining rigs for Alborz's 40 megawatt (MW) data center in Texas, which is powered by a 163 MW wind energy source. Once the rigs are delivered, the mining facility will generate approximately 1.3 exahash per second (EH/s) of mining output.
- "This credit facility provides an attractive, non-dilutive funding source for the Alborz data center," said Tyler Page, CEO of Cipher.
- The deal comes at a time when debt financing has been hailed by Wall Street analysts as a positive catalyst for mining operators because, unlike a capital raise, it does not dilute existing investors.
- Cipher was spun off from bitcoin mining hardware giant Bitfury in March 2021 and went public via a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) deal. Cipher's shares have fallen 37% this year, while the bitcoin price has dropped 25%.
- Cipher began mining operations in February of this year at its data center in Alborz. By the end of the first half of 2023, the company plans to deploy about 445MW of electrical power capacity, according to a recently filed annual report.
- The annual report also shows that Cipher has entered into contracts to purchase mining power to deliver a hashrate of about 8.5 EH/s in 2022, based on delivery schedules agreed with Bitmain and SuperAcme and assuming timely deliveries. Of this mining output, Cipher is expected to own about 7.2 EH/s, with the remainder going to WindHQ.
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