U.S.-listed Chinese sports lottery firm 500.com (NYSE: WBAI) is set to acquire another batch of bitcoin mining machines after it announced a pivot to the cryptocurrency space in January.
- 500.com said Tuesday it has inked a definitive agreement to purchase 5,900 bitcoin mining machines for 55.2 million yuan (around $8.5 million), expected to be delivered in the second quarter of this year.
- Under a wider a framework agreement, the company has agreed in principle to purchase up to 10,000 bitcoin mining machines in 2021, subject to availability.
- Under the deal, 500.com is required to pay a performance bond of 2,000 yuan ($309) per machine for the first 5,000 machines, or 10 million yuan (roughly $1.5 million) in total.
- If all 15,900 bitcoin mining machines are delivered, the firm's total hash rate is expected to increased by 1,000 petahashes per second.
- 500.com first announced on Jan. 11 that it planned to mine bitcoin, saying it would acquire devices worth $14.4 million in an all-equity deal.
Read more: US-Listed Chinese Lottery Firm Plans $14.4M Move Into Bitcoin Mining
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