How Hut 8 is Developing Mining Sites to Strengthen Equity with Celsius Creditors

Hut 8 to Launch New Mining Site in Texas

Hut 8, a Canadian Bitcoin (BTC) mining firm, has recently announced an interim agreement to construct a new mining site in Cedarvale, Texas. The new site will be powered by 215 megawatts (MW) of energy and have the capacity to house 66,000 miners.

Asher Genoot, President of Hut 8, stated that the agreement is twofold, aiming to strengthen Hut 8’s managed services business while also providing equity to creditors of Celsius. Genoot added that the infrastructure of Hut 8 is expected to exceed 895 MW once the site is operational.

Hut 8 will be responsible for providing end-to-end development services for the Cedarvale site, including design, engineering, financial modeling, budgeting, accounting, construction management, procurement, logistics, and request for proposal coordination. Construction is expected to commence in the upcoming weeks.

Celsius Bankruptcy and Hut 8 Merger

In July 2022, Celsius, one of many crypto lenders, declared bankruptcy. Subsequently, in July 2023, its former CEO, Alex Mashinsky, was arrested on charges of securities fraud, commodities fraud and wire fraud.

Not long after, Celsius won bankruptcy court approval for its plan to convert into a creditor-owned Bitcoin mining firm as part of a larger proposal to repay customers. Hut 8’s agreement with Celsius debtors followed, and in November 2023 the two companies completed a merger. USBTC, which was involved in the merger, had previously secured a deal with Celsius to host 8,500 miners at its Alpha Site in August 2023.