Compass announces new 140MW bitcoin mining facility in Canada

Quick Take

  • Compass Mining says it will host a new 140 MW bitcoin mining facility in Ontario, Canada.
  • The firm currently manages 30MW facilities in various locations, Compass CEO Whit Gibbs told The Block.

Compass Mining, a bitcoin mining hardware marketplace and hosting services provider, announced Tuesday that it will host a new 140 megawatts (MW) bitcoin mining facility in Ontario, Canada.

The firm has partnered with hosting infrastructure provider Red Jar Digital Infrastructure, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Canada-based Red Jar Capital, for the facility. Compass says the facility will be 95% powered by "clean energy," meaning by electricity from nuclear, hydro, wind, solar, and biomass sources.

Compass CEO Whit Gibbs told The Block that the new facility's capacity will be a significant increase from the firm's current 30MW facilities in various locations, including the U.S. and Russia. "The new facility will be the largest single-site in North America for retail miners," said Gibbs.

It will take at least a year to bring in the entire 140MW capacity at the new facility. Gibbs said mining machines will start coming online by the end of January 2022 and reach the planned capacity by the end of that year.

When at total capacity, the new facility is expected to contribute more than 3 EH/s (exahashes per second) of hash rate to the Bitcoin network, according to Gibbs. Currently, Compass customers contribute about 760 PH/s (petahashes per second), which is about 0.5% of the current Bitcoin hash rate, said Gibbs.

THE SCOOP

Keep up with the latest news, trends, charts and views on crypto and DeFi with a new biweekly newsletter from The Block's Frank Chaparro

By signing-up you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy
By signing-up you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

As for Red Jar Digital Infrastructure's role in the partnership, Gibbs said the firm leases the facility and holds the power purchase agreement. "They have selected Compass to fill and co-manage the site/ ASICs," he said.

"Our deep knowledge and experience in managing complex electrical projects and understanding of the intricacies of tariff structures across Canada complements Compass Mining's expertise in ASIC sourcing and hosting," said Ron Dizy, CEO of Red Jar Digital Infrastructure.

Dizy went on to say that this is the first bitcoin mining facility Red Jar is building and that the firm is looking forward to developing additional sites in the future in Canada.


© 2023 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

About Author

Yogita Khatri is a senior reporter at The Block, covering all things crypto. As one of the earliest team members, Yogita has played a pivotal role in breaking numerous stories, exclusives and scoops. With nearly 3,000 articles under her belt, Yogita holds the records as The Block's most-published and most-read author of all time. Prior to joining The Block, Yogita worked at crypto publication CoinDesk and The Economic Times, where she wrote on personal finance. To contact her, email: [email protected]. For her latest work, follow her on X @Yogita_Khatri5.