Since the start of 2024, Bitcoin mining companies have collectively spent more than $3.6 billion on fixed assets (FA).

This includes money spent on mining equipment, data center upgrades, and other infrastructure needed to maintain and expand operations.

Record Spending

TheMinerMag newsletter on November 28 reported that mining companies’ FA spending between July and September 2024 was the highest since Q1 2022, when they spent a record $1.246 billion.

The companies paid out $1.226 billion in Q3 2024, down just $20 million from Q1 2022. CleanSpark has yet to release its financial report for the period, and analysts believe the addition of the Nevada company’s spending could allow the industry to set a new record for net FA spending in a single quarter.

BTC miners have invested about $3.49 billion in equipment and upgrades this year, including $1.18 billion between January and March and $1.07 billion between April and June, in addition to the third-quarter figure. That’s already nearly $900 million more than the sector has spent in all of 2022.

Hardware purchases dominate spending

The rise in investment after a sluggish 2023, when companies spent about $1.3 billion on fixed assets, coincides with the Bitcoin network’s hashrate rising to nearly 790 exahashes per second (EH/s).

In addition, the cryptocurrency’s mining difficulty also hit a new all-time high of 101.6 T on November 5, and experts predict it will likely rise by at least another 2% in the coming days.

This means Bitcoin mining operations will need to focus on efficiency and scale to remain competitive and profitable. Thus, most of the PP&E funds invested last year went toward upgrading and expanding mining equipment.

Pre-order data tracked by TheMinerMag between July 2023 and March 2024 shows that companies have earmarked more than $2 billion to purchase the latest BTC mining hardware.

Shipments were expected to begin by September 2024, with most of the deals being handled by China’s Bitmain. However, delays in the delivery of the company’s Antminer ASIC devices to US BTC miners have sparked speculation about possible links to ongoing geopolitical issues. This includes a reported investigation into possible sanctions violations by Sophgo, a Chinese chip maker linked to Bitmain co-founder Micree Zhang.

💸💲🧠 Get up to 5020 USDT as a welcome bonus and an additional 1025 USDT by using this referral on  Bybit