TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--(Block Height: 771,530) – Cathedra Bitcoin Inc. (TSX-V: CBIT; OTCQX: CBTTF) (“Cathedra” or the “Company”), a Bitcoin company that develops and operates world-class bitcoin mining infrastructure, is pleased to announce the following operations and corporate updates.
The Company has received an additional 1,385 Bitmain Antminer S19J Pro machines from its 2021 futures order, 920 of which are being installed at the Company’s mine in Washington. The final 773 S19J Pros from the 2021 futures order are expected to be delivered in Q1 2023, as the Company elected to ship these machines via ocean freight rather than air freight to conserve cash. The Company continues to evaluate potential deployment opportunities for the remaining 1,238 S19J Pros to further increase its bitcoin mining hash rate.
In recent weeks, the Company has optimized its operations at two sites by “underclocking” certain of its existing machines—reducing power draw to improve machine efficiency, as measured by energy consumed per unit of hash rate produced (joules per terahash, or J/TH). The Company performed these optimizations at its Washington mine and one of the data centers at which it hosts machines in Tennessee. The Company selected these two sites to maximize operating cash flow under current market conditions and expects to complete this optimization in the next week, after which it estimates the Washington site will produce 88 PH/s using 2.0 MW (vs. 52 PH/s from 2.0 MW previously) and the Tennessee data center will produce 24 PH/s using 0.6 MW (vs. 37 PH/s from 1.1 MW previously). Following these optimizations, the Company expects to realize average efficiency across these two sites of 23 J/TH, as opposed to 35 J/TH before the optimization, representing an improvement of approximately 36%. After these changes, the Company estimates its active bitcoin mining fleet will produce approximately 226 PH/s.
In December, the Company prepaid the full outstanding principal balance on its last equipment loan for a total of US$270,690. The equipment loan carried interest at 15% and was prepaid at par. This equipment loan was collateralized by 180 MicroBT Whatsminer M30S machines, which have been moved to storage to make room for the optimizations at the Washington mine.
Additionally, during December the Company entered into a series of agreements with various parties to sell certain credits and coupons which it had received from third-party vendors for cash. Under these credit and coupon sales, the Company has raised US$683,398 in cash proceeds since December 6, 2022, and expects to receive an additional US$937,605 in the coming weeks. As of December 31, 2022, the Company held C$3,227,000 (US$2,383,000) in cash and cash equivalents.
Finally, in accordance with its ongoing efforts to conserve cash, the Company has made further reductions to corporate salaries, now saving an estimated US$285,000 per year in payroll expenses. Additionally, the Company has reached an agreement with its board of directors to restructure the board’s compensation plan. Under the restructured plan, the Company will reduce its total cash directors’ fees by US$62,400 per year and in return grant its directors a total of 1,560,000 restricted share units under the Company’s long-term incentive plan for the 2023 fiscal year. The restricted share units will vest one year following the date of the grant, being January 6, 2023.
Management Commentary
“In market conditions like these, one must think like a cockroach. After deploying these additional machines, improving the efficiency of some existing machines through underclocking, and further reducing our overhead, we will continue to generate positive EBITDA under current market conditions.”
About Cathedra Bitcoin
Cathedra Bitcoin Inc. (TSX-V: CBIT; OTCQX: CBTTF) is a Bitcoin company that develops and operates world-class bitcoin mining infrastructure.
Cathedra believes sound money and abundant energy are the fundamental ingredients to human progress and is committed to advancing both by working closely with the energy sector to secure the Bitcoin network. Today, Cathedra’s diversified bitcoin mining operations total 203 PH/s and span three states and five locations in the United States. The Company is focused on expanding its portfolio of hash rate through a diversified approach to site selection and operations, utilizing multiple energy sources across various jurisdictions.
For more information about Cathedra, visit cathedra.com or follow Company news on Twitter at @CathedraBitcoin or on Telegram at @CathedraBitcoin.
Cautionary Statement
Trading in the securities of the Company should be considered highly speculative. No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains certain “forward-looking information” within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws that are based on expectations, estimates and projections as at the date of this news release. The information in this release about future plans and objectives of the Company, are forward-looking information. Other forward-looking information includes but is not limited to information concerning: the intentions and future actions of senior management, the intentions, plans and future actions of the Company, as well as the Company’s ability to successfully mine digital currency; revenue increasing as currently anticipated; the ability to profitably liquidate current and future digital currency inventory; volatility of network difficulty and, digital currency prices and the resulting significant negative impact on the Company’s operations; the construction and operation of expanded blockchain infrastructure as currently planned; and the regulatory environment of cryptocurrency in applicable jurisdictions.
Any statements that involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, future events or performance (often but not always using phrases such as “expects”, or “does not expect”, “is expected”, “anticipates” or “does not anticipate”, “plans”, “budget”, “scheduled”, “forecasts”, “estimates”, “believes” or “intends” or variations of such words and phrases or stating that certain actions, events or results “may” or “could”, “would”, “might” or “will” be taken to occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking information and are intended to identify forward-looking information.
This forward-looking information is based on reasonable assumptions and estimates of management of the Company at the time it was made, and involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. The Company has also assumed that no significant events occur outside of the Company’s normal course of business. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The Company undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking information other than as required by law.
