US-headquartered cryptocurrency mining firm, Riot Blockchain (NASDAQ: RIOT), recently revealed that it has more than doubled the number of high-end Bitcoin (BTC) miners it operates – which should roughly double its hashrate (amount of computing power) at around the time of the BTC halving.
On May 6, 2020, the company notably announced the purchased 1,040 Antminer S19s from Chinese manufacturer Bitmain.
The new crypto mining equipment cost the company $1.9 million, after Riot’s purchase of 1,000 S19s Pros (confirmed on April 30, 2020).
Riot Blockchain plans to receive and install the new digital currency miners during Q3 2020. The company said it expects that the 2,040 S19s will boost its operational hashrate by as much as 80% by next year.
Riot claims that it should have an operating hashrate of 457 petahashes per second. The firm expects to utilize around 16.5 megawatts of electricity once the equipment has been installed and starts running.
A Bitmain representative from North America said the company had been working cooperatively with the Riot Blockchain team for the past few years. The representative added that Riot has been using Bitmain’s Antminer products at its data centers.
Riot’s large purchase from Bitmain has been finalized at a time when there have been reports of issues with the mining giant’s recently shipped batch of S17s cryptocurrency miners. Failure rates have been around 30%, according to reports from several miners.
The firm says it’s in the process of negotiating terms with clients who may have bought defective mining equipment.
Riot Blockchain’s management revealed that its operations have been affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. The company said it has moved some of its recently acquired S17 crypto miners to a separate center managed by mining service provider, Coimint (in New York).
A New Jersey judge recently granted seven motions of dismissal, which ended a lengthy lawsuit filed against Riot Blockchain. The suit had alleged that the company may have misled its investors back in 2018.