Moar Q1 Earnings + AEP Ohio Rears FUD at Data Centers

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W20 ‘24 Vibe Check

• The Overview Vibe
• Weekly Industry Metrics
• Headlines & News
• The Media Vibe
• Energy Corner
• The Meme Vibe

The Overview Vibe

I am OOO reducing my screen time so I’ll keep this issue of the Vibe Check pretty short. Bitcoin is back up to ~$66K on some nearly CPI prints this week, allowing for hashprice to recover back up above $50/PH/Day. Hashrate continues to simmer down to 585 EH/s as summer vibes (and HEAT) are right around the corner.

While Q1 earnings continue to show miners cosplaying around AI, the newsworthy signals this week are on the regulatory side. Biden’s administration continues to angle hostility to the mining sector with actions related to the site CleanSpark just picked up. Mega utility AEP (American Electricity Power) has taken a swift and concerning step against Bitcoin Mining in Ohio. It is believed that AEP has coordinated with the Ohio Public Utilities Commission to punch through in a non-ethical way rules that would require data centers to commit to 90% of 10 years of payments (even if they use less).

This rule would produce a non-market-driven user-specific rate that would drive digital infrastructure industries away from Ohio and prevent the growth of flexible load in PJM. Both will benefit the retail ratepayers in economic opportunity and grid resiliency. AEP serves four other ISOs (ERCOT, SPP, MISO, and VACS). This type of antagonistic action could be next across many of the main mining hubs in the United States. If you are interested in learning more and how you can support the wide-ranging coalition against this action, please reach out to Andrew Burchwell, Executive Director of the Ohio Blockchain Council

I hope everyone had a safe weekend, especially those in the Houston area. Those tornados did not mess around. Call your mom, offer your neighbor space in your house if you have power, and keep BALLING OUT! Much love from OOO - Mario

Bitcoin/Mining Metrics

• BTC price2: ~$66,728.12 @ EOW. +8.87% WOW.
• Hash price1: $52.35 PH/Day @ EOW. + 6.77% WOW.
• Network Hashrate (SMA 7 Day)1: ~585 EH/s @ EOW. -1.02% WOW.?
• Difficulty1: 83.15 T @ EOW. 0.00% WOW.
• ASIC Retail Price (s19/m30 family)1: $11.3/TH/s @ EOW. 0.00% WOW.

Sources: Hashrate Index1, Bitbo2

Headlines & News

Featured

• El Salvador mined nearly 474 bitcoins, adding to state crypto holding, in last three years - Reuters.
• Morgan Stanley discloses US spot bitcoin ETF holdings worth over $270 million in filing - The Block.
• Crypto boom, erratic rain spark outages in Laos, Asia's clean power export hub - Reuters.
• Biden Order to Halt China-Tied Bitcoin Mine Beside Nuke Base Came as U.S. Firm Just Bought it - CoinDesk.
• ‘Massive’ Solo Miner Wins $200k Bitcoin Rewards with 0.5 EH/s - TheMinerMag.
• Vicent Zhang is out at Whatsminer, Write Wang is in as Sales Director - Twitter.
• Venezuela Bans Bitcoin Mining Operations? - Bitcoinik.

General PubCo Updates

• April Operational & Production Updates: Sphere 3D
• Q1 Results: Bitfarms - Press Release, Presentation, Transcript, Bit Digital - Press Release, Presentation, Transcript, Galaxy Digital - Press Release, Hut 8 - Press Release, Presentation, Transcript, IREN - Press Release, Presentation, Transcript
• Bitfarms Announces Acceleration of Previously Announced Termination of CEO and Provides Update on New CEO Appointment - Press Release.

Operations & Site Updates

• Bitfarms Doubles Yguazu Power Capacity to 200 MW with Additional 100 MW of Hydropower in Paraguay - Press Release.

Regulatory/Legal Updates

• Sweeping ‘Bitcoin Rights’ Bill Becomes Law in Oklahoma - CoinDesk.
• Former CEO Sues Bitcoin Miner Bitfarms Demanding $27M - TheMinerMag.

Research/Reports/Newsletters

• General Markets: Consumer Spending Slows To 0%, Market Smells Rate Cuts, Bitcoin ETFs Shatter Records: TBL Weekly #94, NYDIG Weekly Research - May 17th, CoinMetrics State of the Network: Bitcoin's Halving Aftermath
• Bitcoin Tech: Bitcoin Optech Newsletter: Issue #303
• Bitcoin Mining: The Miner Weekly - Public Miners Raised $2B in Last Pre-Halving Quarter, Hashrate Index - Does the Hashrate Forward Curve Predict Future Hashprice?

The Media Vibe

Energy Corner

The Meme Vibe

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