Cipher Mining, WindHQ Joint Venture Secures $46.9M Loan From BlockFi

Alborz, a joint venture between bitcoin miner Cipher (CIFR) and renewable energy firm WindHQ, received a two-year $46.9 million secured credit facility from crypto lender BlockFi Lending to buy crypto mining rigs, according to a press release.

Proceeds will be used to buy Bitmain S19J Pro mining rigs for Alborz’s 40 megawatt (MW) data center in Texas that is powered by a 163MW wind energy source. Once the rigs are delivered, the mining facility will generate approximately 1.3 exahash per second (EH/s) of mining power.
“This credit facility provides an attractive source of non-dilutive financing at the Alborz data center,” said Tyler Page, CEO of Cipher.
The deal comes as debt financing has been hailed by Wall Street analysts as a positive catalyst for the miners, given it doesn’t dilute existing investors, unlike an equity raise.
Cipher was spun off from bitcoin (BTC) mining hardware giant Bitfury in March 2021 and went public via a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) deal. The shares of Cipher have fallen 37% this year, while the price of bitcoin has dropped 25%.
Cipher began its mining operations in February of this year at its Alborz data center. By the end of the first half of 2023, the company plans to deploy approximately 445MW of electrical power capacity, according to a recent annual filing.
The annual filing also shows that Cipher has entered into mining purchase contracts to deliver hashrate of about 8.5 EH/s in 2022, based on agreed delivery schedules with Bitmain and SuperAcme and assuming timely deliveries. Of this mining power, Cipher is expected to own about 7.2 EH/s, with the remainder going to WindHQ.

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