Bitfarms Ltd. (NASDAQ/TSX: BITF) (“Bitfarms” or the “Company”), a global leader in vertically integrated Bitcoin data center operations, has entered into a miner hosting agreement (the “Hosting Agreement”) with Stronghold Digital Mining Hosting, LLC, a subsidiary of Stronghold Digital Mining, Inc. (NASDAQ: SDIG) (“Stronghold”) at Stronghold’s Panther Creek site in Pennsylvania.
Under the terms of the Hosting Agreement, the Company will be accelerating the deployment of 10,000 Bitmain T21 miners, originally scheduled to come online at the Company’s Yguazu, Paraguay site in December 2024, to Stronghold’s Panther Creek site. Energization is anticipated in October 2024 and will bring 2.2 EH/s online immediately.
“This Hosting Agreement represents an important milestone in our efforts to further optimize our assets and take greater control over our top cost element, the cost of power,” stated Ben Gagnon, Chief Executive Officer. “The opportunity to vertically integrate our operations with Stronghold’s existing power generation infrastructure provides a robust pathway to continued, profitable growth. Further, Stronghold’s Pennsylvania sites have substantial multi-year expansion potential and provide access to energy trading opportunities, competitive power costs, and HPC/AI. We look forward to completing our acquisition of Stronghold and accelerating our strategy to diversify beyond Bitcoin mining to create greater long-term shareholder value.”
The Hosting Agreement will commence on October 1, 2024, and continue for an initial term expiring on December 31, 2025, after which it will automatically renew for additional one-year periods unless either party provides written notice of non-renewal. Pursuant to the Hosting Agreement, the Company will pay Stronghold a monthly fee equal to fifty percent of the profit generated by the Bitfarms miners, subject to certain monthly adjustments between the parties to account for the upfront monthly payment due from Bitfarms to Stronghold in the amount of $210,000 and for taxes and the net cost of power associated with the operation of the Bitfarms miners.
In connection with the execution of the Hosting Agreement, Bitfarms also deposited with Stronghold $7.8 million, equal to the estimated cost of power for three months of operations of the Bitfarms miners, which will be refundable in full to Bitfarms within one business day of the end of the initial term expiring on December 31, 2025.
