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North American bitcoin mining company Blockware Mining today announced that it has raised over $25 million in a second oversubscribed funding round, bringing the company’s total capital raised to more than $32 million.
According to the announcement, Blockware plans to use the funding proceeds to increase both the scale and scope of its mining operations in its currently-installed North American farms and beyond.
The company’s previous rounds have allowed the purchase of 14,000 mining rigs in the second quarter of 2021, from which Blockware will employ 8,000 rigs to scale new, flagship operations in Kentucky, where it recently purchased five acres. The remaining 6,000 machines are planned to be sold to other operators in the country. With the newest round, the company seeks to increase its current 0.3 exahashes per second (EH/s) mining capacity to over 1 EH/s in mid-2022.
“We successfully negotiated the acquisition of a robust supply chain of mining rigs, a complex process made even more challenging by the pandemic,” said Michael Stoltzner, president and CEO of Blockware Mining, in the announcement. “The scarcity of rigs creates a significant barrier to entry for companies looking to enter this business and we have allocated significant resources to making more deals and funding our rapid growth.”
If Blockware succeeds in more than tripling its hash rate capacity over the next year, the move will bring the company into a prominent position in the global bitcoin mining landscape. According to data from BTC.com, 1 EH/s would, at present numbers, lead Blockware to become the world’s 13th-biggest bitcoin miner by hash rate capacity, right behind Huobi.pool which represents a 1.2% of the total Bitcoin network hash rate with 1.07 EH/s.
Additionally, Blockware shared that it has been working “on the ground” in Paducah, Kentucky, and is planning a new 30-megawatt (MW) facility there — possibly expandable to 100 MW in the future. One of the company’s main goals, Stoltzner said, is to further develop the bitcoin mining industry in the U.S.
“Currently, only an estimated 10% of the hash rate worldwide is generated in the U.S.,” added Stoltzner in the announcement. “By providing low hosting rates, Blockware Mining will create better worldwide distribution of the Bitcoin network while making the hash rate in the U.S. more globally competitive.”
Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, Blockware Mining considers itself a diversified Bitcoin mining infrastructure and colocation service provider. The company seeks to offer hardware and hosting packages to miners who wish to get up and running quickly.
