TeraWulf reports doubling mining power since start of 2023
TeraWulf is a bitcoin mining company with a penchant for nuclear power
Maxx-Studio/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks
TeraWulf released its second quarter earnings Monday morning, showing a continued trend of upward momentum for the American bitcoin miner.
TeraWulf’s revenue came in at $15.5 million for the three months ending on June 30, representing an increase of 34% quarter over quarter, according to the report. This was buoyed by the company’s revenue per bitcoin rising 21%.
The company’s total self mining hash rate jumped 67% to 5.5 exahashes per second (EH/s). Similarly, it also self-mined 70% more bitcoin in the second quarter.
These strong numbers were telegraphed by TeraWulf more than doubling its operating mining power since the beginning of the year. July’s average operating hash rate clocked in at 4.7 EH/s, while January’s was 2 EH/s, according to data provided by TeraWulf.
Given these numbers, TeraWulf CEO Paul Prager expressed confidence in the company’s continued positive performance. However, he didn’t just say he was confident. He revealed that he was a fellow investor in TeraWulf.
“In only the last year, I have personally invested over $12 million of my own money. And collectively, our insiders own approximately 55% of the company’s shares,” Prager said on the earnings call.
He continued, “In short, we only win if you win.”
TeraWulf CEO Paul Prager cited its Lake Mariner data center in New York as a major driver of future growth. It’s a site that TeraWulf touts as 91% zero-carbon (mostly hydropower and nuclear).
“As we move into the third quarter, we are actively expanding our Lake Mariner facility by 60% with the addition of 43 [megawatts] of infrastructure and 18,500 of the latest generation S19j XPs,” Prager said in a statement. “This near term expansion will further establish TeraWulf as one of the most efficient mining fleets in the sector.”
Chief Financial Officer Patrick Fleury added that profitability post halving in 2024 is top of mind. To that end, Fleury claimed on the earnings call that 18,500 new miners could immediately reduce the unit economic cost to mine bitcoin by 17%, savings that would make it much easier to generate cash flow when block rewards are cut to 3.125 BTC per block next year.
Furthermore, both Prager and Fleury see the bitcoin mining industry consolidating as the halving event comes closer, with Prager saying there’ll be natural winners and losers.
Fleury pointed to how independent power producers and oil and gas companies have merged over the last twenty or so years, leaving fewer and fewer firms. He said he believes the same will happen with bitcoin mining since it’s a commodities industry similar to oil and gas.
“There’s 20-something public companies in the space. That’s just too many and anybody that’s been around commodity markets long enough has seen consolidation,” Fleury said.
More on TeraWulf’s mining operations
TeraWulf’s Lake Mariner data center there completed construction on its second building in June 2023. With two buildings now up and running, the Lake Mariner site has 110 megawatts (MW) of operating capacity, with a goal of 153 MW by the end of the year.
With all of that added power, TeraWulf expects to increase its total self-mining hash rate to 7.9 EH/s, according to the earnings release.
The Lake Mariner site is also getting a third building to house newly-ordered mining machines. That could be finished by the end of 2023.
TeraWulf’s other location, the fully nuclear-powered Nautilus facility in Pennsylvania, has now reached a fully operational 50 MW and 1.9 EH/s. The plan is to expand that to 100 MW, pending capital availability.
Prager added that TeraWulf’s lack of reliance on carbon-based energy positions the company well for he believes “will be an increasingly stringent regulatory environment.”
TeraWulf’s interest in nuclear power goes back at least to January 2023, when an executive told Blockworks that the company is in talks with nuclear operators throughout the country to power mining rigs.
Also back in January, TeraWulf was at times trading below $1, attaining the label of a penny stock. Its shares, under ticker symbol WULF, have since charged into the green by over 250% year to date. On Monday morning as of 9:40 am ET, the stock traded away around 10% of those gains.
Updated Aug. 14, 2023 at 9:42 am ET: Added further insight from TeraWulf earnings call.
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