Crypto Miner Hive Had to Sell Ether (ETH) in Major Quantity to Buy Bitcoin Mining Rigs

Bitcoin miner Hive said that it has grown its hashrate by 8% during the month of May and mined 273.4 Bitcoins last month.

Amid the major crash in the price of Bitcoin and the broader crypto market, cryptocurrency miners have been selling their holdings to fund their operations. On Monday, June 6, popular crypto-miner Hive blockchain announced that it had to sell 10,000 ether (ETH), to pay for its recent purchase of Intel (INTC) bitcoin mining rigs.

Hive Buys New Bitcoin Mining Rigs

Hive said that it was the right decision for them to liquidate Ether (ETH) due to its higher volatility. Along with Bitcoin, the world’s second-largest crypto Ether has come under severe selling pressure. As of press time, ETH is trading 6% down at a price of $1,755 with a market cap of $212 billion.

Hive said that it will continue selling Ether from time to time to fund the company’s long-term Bitcoin mining goals. Interestingly, the company also said that it will look to replace its sold Ether as it is still expanding its Ether mining capacity.

Hive is among the first miners to receive Intel’s second-generation Bitcoin-specific mining rigs. These are reportedly more efficient than what most of its rivals hold. Hive will test some units of Bitcoin mining rigs this month. The mass production of the rigs shall happen by this fall.

Hive’s Hashrate Grew by 8% in May

During the last month of May, Hive mined 273.4 Bitcoins, 2% higher than the previous month of April. Furthermore, it also grew its hashrate by 8% during the last month. Frank Holmes, Executive Chairman of HIVE said:

“We are pleased to report in May HIVE continued its strong momentum in expanding our hashrate, notably our Bitcoin mining hashrate grew by 8% this month, through installations and electrical upgrades. In May we produced an average of 8.8 BTC per day, and we are pleased to note that as of today, we are producing approximately 9.2 BTC a day even after the recent difficulty increase of 5.5%.”

Currently, the company has a Bitcoin-equivalent net hash rate of 3.4 EH/s. It wants to nearly double it to 6.2 exahash per second (EH/s) in the next 12 months. Further commenting on its stock price and future plans, the company wrote:

“We are frustrated like most loyal long-term shareholders that we are not enjoying a premium as measured in revenue, cash flow multiples for superior execution, green energy focus and ESG strategy. Important for our shareholders as we weather the Bitcoin winter together, is that management remains focused on basic business fundamentals. We are laser focused on increasing our revenue, cash flow and Bitcoin HODL position on our balance sheet. We have a solid plan to build our data center business globally as this infrastructure is key to rising Bitcoin production with a high degree of efficiency.”