Bitdeer has acquired a 101-megawatt site and gas-fired power project in Alberta, Canada, aiming to become a fully vertically integrated Bitcoin miner.
A fully vertically integrated miner would mean Bitdeer maintains control of the important components of its Bitcoin (BTC) mining operations rather than relying on third parties for infrastructure services.
The crypto mining firm said the deal gives it control over land, power generation, electrical and data center infrastructure, as well as its Sealminer A3 mining rigs.
“It marks a significant step in our strategy to become the first fully vertically integrated Bitcoin miner, giving us unmatched control over costs, energy efficiency, and scalability,” Haris Basit, chief strategy officer at Bitdeer, said in a news release.
Bitdeer is a crypto cloud mining firm out of Singapore with bases across multiple jurisdictions, including the US. It entered the Nasdaq exchange through a backdoor listing in April 2023 after completing a $1.18 billion merger with blank check firm Blue Safari Acquisition.
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Despite its expanding global footprint and Canada site acquisition, its stock has continued to struggle. Its shares have plunged 27.5% over the past month, including a 4.95% drop on Feb. 4, bucking the broader US market rally on the day. The three major indexes closed in the green, and rival crypto mining-related stocks, including CleanSpark, Riot Platforms and Terawulf, all posted gains.
Meanwhile, investor sentiment is turning increasingly bearish. Short interest in Bitdeer surged from under 10 million shares in late November to 13.7 million by Jan. 15, while average daily trading volume has continued to decline.
Short interest continues to rise as average daily share volume falls. Source: Nasdaq
Bitcoin mining competition is expected to cool due to slower mining hardware rollouts. Bitcoin mining difficulty fell to 108.1 trillion on Jan. 27, marking the first reduction of 2025.
In 2024, Bitcoin miners faced a 50% pay cut due to the quadrennial halving, which reduced Bitcoin rewards for verifying transactions from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC per block. Some mining firms, including Bitdeer, have diversified into other industries, such as AI. Bitdeer reported $2.8 million in gross profit in the third quarter of 2024, down from $21.1 million from the year before.
More recently, mining stocks declined alongside the AI industry after DeepSeek, a Chinese artificial intelligence model that performs on par with OpenAI, exploded to the top of Apple’s App Store. It claimed it could operate at significantly lower costs than its rivals. The development challenged assumptions about AI development costs and hardware reliance, impacting investor sentiment in both sectors.
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