Austin, Texas-based cryptocurrency mining firm Blockcap mined 544 bitcoin in Q1, an earnings report revealed exclusively to CoinDesk shows. Meanwhile, rival Riot, one of the largest publicly traded miners in North America, mined 491 bitcoin in the same period, per Securities and Exchange Commission filings.
Blockcap’s haul follows the company’s $38 million funding round and its acquisition of 32,000 Bitmain ASICs, and Riot’s comes after the miner inked a deal for 49,000 ASICs from Bitmain in the beginning of April. Some of these mining machines are online but the bulk are not, as both Blockcap and Riot will continuing placing news ASICs online as these shipments are fulfilled throughout the year.
Publicly traded Marathon Patent Group, another mainstay on North America’s mining scene, pulled in 196 BTC in Q1 of this year.
Each of these companies have been buying up mining rigs in a race to expand as North American investor appetite for Bitcoin’s mining has never been greater.
These mining companies, along with others like Luxor and newcomer Gryphon, have grown significantly over the past year. The United States and Canada now share anywhere from 10%-15% of Bitcoin’s global hashrate, a trend that could continue with investment dollars pouring into North American mining firms.
“Blockcap has an aggressive growth strategy that is designed to create more jobs in the blockchain industry not just in the United States but also in our home state of Texas and our hometown of Austin,” Blockcap founder and Chairman Darin Feinstein said. “We believe there is ample room for all of us to expand together and in turn provide broader, sustained economic growth at the local, state and national levels.”
An important piece of this growing industry, ASIC manufacturing, just touched down on the continent in the last year with ePIC, an ASIC manufacturer fresh off a $7 million series A funding round.
“North America could be a mining powerhouse but three key pieces need to come together for that to happen,” Henry Quan, CEO of ASIC maker ePIC, said. “There’s a lot of cheap energy here, commercial miners and a favorable political climate, so that’s the first thing. Mining pools are another piece, which we have with Luxor and DCG. And now, we have the third piece with ePIC and ASIC manufacturing.” (DCG is the parent company of CoinDesk.)
Publicly traded Marathon Patent Group, another mainstay on North America’s mining scene, pulled in 196 BTC in Q1 of this year.
Each of these companies have been buying up mining rigs in a race to expand as North American investor appetite for Bitcoin’s mining has never been greater.