Sphere 3D Bitcoin production remains flat in July amid US customs problems, crypto winter

Carbon-free mining company Sphere 3D‘s July 2022 report showed that it managed to keep up with its usual performance in July even though the 4,000 new mining rigs were held back in the U.S. customs during the winter market, where mining companies have been taking significant hits.

The company has been expecting 4,000 S19J Pro mining machines to be delivered and set to work at the beginning of August. However, they never reached their destinations.

According to the report, U.S. customs temporarily confiscated the equipment in mid-June, saying they were waiting for a receipt of documentation from the supplier. Moreover, the report raised a red flag about U.S. customs and said:

“Based on conversations with industry leaders, other mining companies are being challenged with similarly frustrating U.S. Customs clearance issues.”

Regardless, Sphere 3D managed to increase its Bitcoin holdings up to 62.3. The company has been holding on to its 0.41 daily Bitcoin production volume since June and managed to produce 12.78 Bitcoin during July as well.

Mining companies in the winter market

Cryptosphere is experiencing its coldest winter. As soon as the winter started, a sell-out trend also emerged amongst crypto miners. At the time, Bitcoin was traded for around $30,000, and the trend suggested that miners were expecting it to fall more.

They were proven right. A month later, Bitcoin fell as low as $22,600, which made all mining rigs produced before 2019 to lose profitability. The amount these machines mined didn’t compensate for the electricity they consumed.

Soon after, major mining companies showed signs of financial trouble because they could not pay their bills. Most were forced to continue the sell-out trend to cover operating costs, while some lost whole facilities because they couldn’t pay their electricity bills.

Difference of renewable energy

While the mining sphere is taking significant hits due to Bitcoin’s energy prices and winter rates, Sphere 3D seems intact, primarily thanks to its renewable energy sources. The company defines itself as a “net carbon-neutral cryptocurrency miner.” Based on their monthly report, they’re operating Antminer S19 Pro’s, which would be profitable by consuming electricity as low as $16,411 BTCUSD.

Crypto mining causes less ecological damage compared to the gold and banking sectors. However, renewable mining also offers security in severe winter conditions. To prevent the mining sector from losing profitability, tech giants have been working on new technologies to create energy-efficient mining rigs.

The latest update came from Samsung when the company announced it’s about to launch 45% more energy-efficient 3-nanometer mining chips. The new chips are expected to have 23% higher performance. Moreover, the company also announced that a new 2-nanometer mining chip will be released by 2025, with even higher energy efficiency and performance.