Blockstream and Macquarie Group launch Bitcoin mining pilot program

September 8, 2021 Coin Telegraph

The BTC mining industry is getting a makeover as miners shift their focus to ESG, or environmental, social and governance, initiatives.

Blockchain infrastructure developer Blockstream has partnered with Macquarie Group, an Australian multinational investment bank, to launch a new pilot for a Bitcoin (BTC) mining facility with a mandate to explore carbon-neutral alternatives.

As part of the pilot project, Macquarie Group is investing in one of Blockstream’s enterprise-grade mining facilities, the companies announced Wednesday. This will allow Macquarie Group to uncover new opportunities in renewable energy that can be bootstrapped for more sustainable Bitcoin mining initiatives.

Macquarie Group is one of the largest institutional investors in the renewable energy infrastructure, with 44 gigawatts of generation under development or construction as of March 31, 2021.

Blockstream has broadened its ambitions in the Bitcoin mining industry after successfully raising $210 million in Series B financing. In addition to the successful fundraiser, the company disclosed that it had acquired the intellectual property of Spondoolies, a Bitcoin mining hardware manufacturer. As a result, the core team at Spondoolies joined Blockstream’s newly-developed ASIC unit.

As Cointelegraph reported in June, Blockstream’s increasing focus on Bitcoin mining attracted a sizable investment from Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, who committed $5 million toward a solar-powered mining facility.

Bitcoin mining received considerable mainstream attention this year after Tesla CEO Elon Musk seemingly disavowed the cryptocurrency over concerns that its network was environmentally unsustainable. A public debate about renewably sourced Bitcoin soon emerged, with industry champion Michael Saylor convening an industry group composed of BTC miners. Musk appears to have softened his stance on miners’ negative environmental impact, going as far as confirming that SpaceX, another company he owns, also has Bitcoin on its books.

The hashrate on the Bitcoin network appears to be growing again after the industry suffered a major disruption at the hands of China, which effectively banned BTC miners earlier this year.

Canadian Bitcoin miner Blockstream joins crypto unicorns with $3.2B valuation

August 24, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Canadian Bitcoin miner Blockstream joins crypto unicorns with .2B valuation

Adam Back

Blockstream has secured $210 million in fresh investment from a U.K. private equity firm and crypto exchange Bitfinex's operator.

Canada-based Bitcoin (BTC) infrastructure firm Blockstream, co-founded by cryptographer and cypherpunk Adam Back, has hit unicorn status with its latest valuation at $3.2 billion.

The company, which focuses on various Bitcoin-related areas — including operating as a mining service provider and developing renewables-based infrastructure intended to “green” the veteran cryptocurrency — has raised $210 million in its latest financing round, according to the Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail.

Blockstream’s new backers, which join existing investors like Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, are the United Kingdom-based private equity firm Baillie Gifford and Hong Kong-based iFinex, the operator of crypto exchange Bitfinex.

In a statement about the grounds for Blockstream’s $3.2 billion valuation and the fresh capital investment, Baillie Gifford wrote that it has “enormous respect for Blockstream’s founders and management team” and believes that “its settlement network for Bitcoin-based assets and securities has the potential to transform the design and operation of capital markets.”

Blockstream Chief Strategy Officer Samson Mow has reportedly said that the investment will support the company’s further growth and help it to expand its mining operations. The company has recently acquired ASIC maker Spondoolies and, according to Mow, plans to develop its own ASIC miner to use for its own operations and to sell on the retail market “sometime in 2022.”

Mow also disclosed that Blockstream aims to raise more capital in the coming months to expand its various initiatives. These have to date included the Blockstream Satellite network, which broadcasts the Bitcoin blockchain worldwide 24/7 and the launch of a service called Blockstream Energy, which allows energy producers to sell surplus electricity to proof-of-work miners.

In March of this year, Blockstream announced the launch of a security token backed by the company's mining operations, intended to serve as a more flexible alternative to investing in Bitcoin mining stocks or physical mining infrastructure.

Square Takes a Swipe at the Bitcoin Energy Debate With $5 Million Solar Mining Investment

June 6, 2021 Bitcoin.com

Jack Dorsey’s Square Inc. to invest $5M in Blockstream Bitcoin mining facility

June 5, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Blockstream

Blockstream is a leading blockchain development company founded by Adam Back in 2014.

Square Inc., a crypto-friendly mobile payments company, is planning to invest $5 million in a solar-powered Bitcoin (BTC) mining facility for Blockstream Mining, offering further insight into Jack Dorsey’s continued support for blockchain infrastructure.

Chris Cook, Blockstream’s chief information officer, announced the collaborative partnership on Saturday, where he outlined plans to build the open-sourced mining facility at one of Blockstream’s United States operations.

"Together, we plan to provide public transparency by sharing the project economics and knowledge we’ve gained from building a Bitcoin mine powered by renewable energy,” he said, adding:

“Ultimately, we hope to demonstrate how bitcoin mining in conjunction with renewable energy can help drive the clean energy transition.”

In addition to providing regular reports on the status of the project, the new initiative will also feature a so-called public performance dashboard, where anyone can pull real-time metrics of the mining facility.

Bitcoin mining has been the subject of extreme media scrutiny after Tesla CEO Elon Musk decided to stop accepting BTC payments for Tesla cars, citing grave environmental concerns.

MicroStrategy’s Michael Saylor brokered a truce between Musk and the Bitcoin mining community last month by bringing both sides to the table for high-level talks. The industry-led Bitcoin Mining Council emerged out of the meeting, with miners vowing to accelerate sustainability initiatives.

As for Square Inc. the Jack Dorsey-led company has been ramping up efforts to boost adoption of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. Cointelegraph reported Friday that Dorsey is strongly considering developing a Bitcoin hardware wallet in an effort to bring self-custody and financial inclusion to the masses.

"If we do it, we would build it entirely in the open, from software to hardware design, and in collaboration with the community,” he said in a Twitter post.

Bitcoin-Pegged Token Crafted by Binance Swells, BTCB Now Commands $2.3 Billion Market Cap

April 7, 2021 Bitcoin.com

Adam Back unveils Blockstream’s new Bitcoin mining security token

March 31, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Adam Back

Blockstream has announced the launch of a new security token backed by the company's mining facilities.

Canadian-based Blockchain tech company Blockstream announced the launch of a security token backed by the company's mining production on March 29.

It offers an alternative to investing in Bitcoin mining stocks, with the company providing non-US qualified investors exposure to Bitcoin mining through the Blockstream Mining Note security token. BMN represents 2,000 terahash per second of hashrate from Blockstream's mining facilities.

The Bitcoin mined for BMN will be held in cold storage for three years, and will be distributed to the final token holders at the end of that time frame.

Blockstream plans to begin BMN mining operations by July 9, with the following tranches expected to be released in the third quarter of this year.

See https://t.co/W6zlfDQRpq some more details (BMN is available to non-US qualified investors)
— Adam Back (@adam3us) March 31, 2021

The BMN security token offering, or STO, will be held on STOKR, a European investment marketplace for alternative digital assets. The first tranche of security tokens will be on offer from April 7, and are priced at roughly $240,000 each, which is also the minimum investment.

"BMN will entitle its holders to hash rate produced by #Bitcoin miners at #BlockstreamMining colocation facilities around the globe. As a security token, $BMN is subject to certain regulatory requirements and provides investors with legal recourse and high-level transparency." ⛏️ https://t.co/n9HyuWFTpF
— Blockstream (@Blockstream) March 30, 2021

In the announcement published on Blockstream’s website, CEO Adam Back and CIO Chris Cook emphasized the benefits of gaining exposure to the security token in comparison to investing in mining infrastructure:

“By packaging mining in a tradable token, the BMN allows investors more flexibility than a traditional investment in physical mining infrastructure—investors can more easily adjust their exposure to Bitcoin mining by trading the BMN on secondary markets.”

“By expanding investor participation in Bitcoin’s proof-of-work, the BMN also strengthens Bitcoin’s security and censorship resistance. It’s a win-win for investors and the broader network,” the post said.

Exposure to Bitcoin mining has been a lucrative option for many investors. Cointelegraph reported on March 22, that shares in the top four publicly traded mining firms were up 5000% in the last 12 months, compared to the 900% growth of Bitcoin in that same period.

Blockstream

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