Hive Blockchain will likely mine more bitcoin in the third quarter this year compared to the second quarter, the company announced in a Wednesday (Dec. 22) press release. It will also likely see a drop in ether mining because of more competition.
Between Oct. 1 and Dec. 21, Hive mined 600 bitcoins and more than 6,280 ether, the release stated. In Q2, it mined 656 bitcoins and 8,688 ether. The company is mining more than seven bitcoins and 65 ether per day. It expects to mine more bitcoin than Q2 and over 6,900 ether by the end of third quarter.
The decline in ether is due to higher hash rate difficulty because of new participants’ entry into the ecosystem, according to the release. Difficulty spiked by over 16% compared to the last quarter.
“This drop in the production of ether in the current quarter compared to the prior quarter will be offset partially by the average price of ether increasing by 45%, and the higher bitcoin mined in this quarter boosted by the increase in the price of bitcoin in the quarter of over 35%,” Hive said in the release.
In other news, Griid Infrastructure, which mines bitcoin, announced in November that it was working on a deal with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Adit EdTech Acquisition Corp. regarding a merger to value the company at over $3 billion.
Read more: Bitcoin Miner Griid Infrastructure Could Go Public via SPAC
Griid uses carbon-free energy to manage, build and operate U.S. bitcoin mining facilities.
The company announced that it had gotten a $525 million facility from Blockchain.com to scale and increase capabilities.
Adit EdTech raised $276 million through its initial public offering (IPO) in January and added industry advisers in August.
