In the ongoing boom in bitcoin, mining companies are scrambling to mint as much of the currency as they possibly can.
And in this crypto bull market, delays are critical.
Marathon locked in an average price of around $3,000 per machine, but given how the value of bitcoin has soared, an order placed today will run to nearly $10,000 per machine.
Bringing the machines to Marathon’s facilities in Montana and Texas began proving troublesome, however.
“And the other bottleneck was customs processing at US airports upon arrival.” Marathon’s computers had been arriving at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, which had grown jammed with imports.
Marathon was also able to route its flights directly to Dallas, where “customs had more capacity to process shipments,” he said.
In May 2021, when the Chinese government indicated it would ban all cryptocurrency mining, BitDigital still had around 20,000 machines in the country.
“They’re delicate machines,” Tabar said, “so they have to be packed in Saran Wrap and then packed into crates very delicately.
In the perfect storm of supply chain problems, the migration of machines was hit by severe delays, some stretching as long as a month.
Buying new machines in a hurry isn’t an option, Tabar noted.
Riot Blockchain, a mining company headquartered in Colorado, wanted to construct two new buildings on its bitcoin farm in Texas, where a technology known as immersion cooling would drain the heat from all the whirring machines.
It was no longer practical to send faulty miners back for repair to MicroBT, the firm’s manufacturer in China, said Sue Ennis, Hut 8’s head of investor relations and corporate development.
“Our team is now trained to extend the lifespan of these machines, and if pushed, they can go to even five years.