It is no longer a secret that the Chinese government is busy driving the bitcoin mining industry out of the country. Which means the way is clear for other miners to increase their dominance on the network. North America was already a major player in the industry before the great Chinese witch hunt on the mining industry and now seems to be making an even bigger leap.
From building large data centers to purchasing massive amounts of new mining hardware, the North American miners are doing everything they can to increase their position in the network. With many Chinese parties forced to cease operations, the dominance of the North Americans will increase further. Time to take a closer look at the continent’s four largest listed players.
Riot Blockchain
Starting with Riot Blockchain, which invested heavily in 2020 in expanding their mining capacity. Millions were thrown to buy thousands of Antminers from Bitmain. In total, Riot Blockchain managed to increase their capacity by 460 percent in 2020.
This drive to grow continued into 2021 with the purchase of 42,000 Antminers from Bitmain. In addition, the company has purchased a large Texas data center for more than 600 million euros. Which just goes to show how ambitious Riot Blockchain is to grow and how much confidence they have in the future of bitcoin.
This year, Riot Blockchain has already mined 1,167 bitcoin through June, while last year it only managed to pull 508 bitcoin from the digital earth around the same time. Which means production has increased by 130 percent. In total, the company now has more than 2,200 bitcoin on its balance sheet.
Marathon
The biggest competitor to Riot Blockchain in North America is undoubtedly Marathon. In October, this major player bought another 10,000 Antminer S-19 Pros from Bitman. This should bring the company’s hashing power to 2.56 EH/s, which is slightly more than the 2.3 EH/s that Riot Blockchain is allowed to write.
Marathon was discredited in the bitcoin community this year for allegedly mining so-called “OFAC-compliant” bitcoin blocks. Blocks that are fully compliant with US law. It didn’t take long before Marathon came back to this and started mining “normal” blocks again.
That Marathon has confidence in the future of bitcoin is clear, as the company has purchased more than 4,800 bitcoin for an amount of more than 100 million euros. This immediately made the company one of the largest bitcoin owners in the world.
Hut 8
It’s not just US companies that rule North America. The Canadian Hut 8 has also been participating well for years. In fact, in 2018, Hut 8 was the largest listed miner in the world in terms of mining capacity. After a minor pullback in the bear market, this Canadian player is back on track.
When all the machines that Hut 8 ordered arrive and are active, the company’s hashrate will be 2.5 EH/s. With which it competes with the greats of the earth. This would jump the production of the Canadian miner from 6.5 to 7.5 bitcoins per day, to 14 to 16 bitcoins per day.
What should be able to protect the status of Hut 8 as the miners with the most self-mined bitcoin on the balance. In total, Hut 8 expects to close this year with 5,000 bitcoins and the hashrate should be increased to 6 EH/s by mid-2022.
Hive Blockchain
Last up is Hive Blockchain. This miner is known for focusing mainly on so-called “green bitcoin.” We all know that the climate debate surrounding bitcoin is becoming increasingly important for the industry and Hive Blockchain is doing everything it can to settle that debate in bitcoin’s favor by showing that the industry can also be green.
The hashrate of this miner is slightly lower than the previously discussed competitors, but with the recent purchase of 3,000 MicroBT M30S miners, the company’s capacity will reach 0.83 EH/s. With which it competes well on the global stage of bitcoin miners.
It will be interesting to see how this landscape will develop in the coming months and years. Especially now that the big move from China is underway and a lot of mining hardware has to look for a new home. With these major listed players, there is a good chance that North America will prove itself as a dominant player in the market.
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