Shanghai-based blockchain fund manager Fundamental Labs is making a big long-term bet on the Bitcoin mining business. According to industry sources, the company plans to invest $44 million in setting up a top-of-the-line Bitcoin mining facility.
The onslaught of the crypto winter over the last year has sent jitters over the entire Bitcoin mining industry. Setting up a mining facility takes significant investments, and profit margins have been constantly shrinking with the falling Bitcoin prices.
However, the Bitcoin price recovery since April 2019 is giving miners a new hope and reason to continue with their operations. On May 13, Bitcoin surged past $8000 levels to make a new 2019-high.
Despite concerns in China of a Bitcoin mining ban, Fundamental Labs plans to install “20,000 to 30,000 units of brand-new mining equipment” to its mining facility in China’s Southwestern region, reports CoinDesk.
The blockchain fund manager will start its operations in June, leveraging the availability of cheap hydroelectric power. After the summer, Fundamental Labs plans to move its mining facility to other regions of China, such as Xinjiang, as well as other countries like Kazakhstan.
Making Aggressive Bets On Crypto Mining
In a bid to maximize its mining scale, Fundamental Labs’ mining facility will feature the latest and most powerful mining equipment.“We don’t buy old machines since our focus is to participate in mining for the long term. And second-hand equipment like AntMiner S9 won’t be useful once the summer season ends,” Yuan said.
Fundamental Labs has got some aggressive plans ahead to expand its crypto mining business. The company plans to raise $150 million by the year-end to expand its operations. The recent $44 million mining investment comes from the company’s recently closed mining fund.
Since its inception in 2016 with starting capital of $30 million, Fundamental Labs’ portfolio has grown to over $500 million. The company has holdings in crypto giants like Coinbase, Binance, and Canaan.
Boosting the Bitcoin Hash Rate
The massive capital influx and the use of highly powerful mining equipment may give a boost to the Bitcoin hash rate over the coming months.
Running a fleet of 20,000 to 30,000 powerful mining units can increase Bitcoin’s hash rate by a 1,000 quadrillion hashes per second (PH/s), which is 2% of Bitcoin total hash rate at present. According to blockchain.info the total hash rate for the entire Bitcoin blockchain is around 50,000 PH/s.
Yuan notes that an infusion of capital to scale up Fundamental Labs’ mining facility could see the installation of 60,000 to 100,000 units of new equipment by year-end.
