Riot Blockchain, Inc. ("Riot”, “Riot Blockchain” or “the Company"), a Nasdaq-listed industry leader in Bitcoin mining and hosting, announces the development of 200 megawatts (“MW”) of immersion-cooling technology at its Whinstone facility (“Whinstone”), which to the Company’s knowledge is the Bitcoin mining industry’s first industrial-scale immersion-cooled deployment of Bitcoin mining hardware (“miner(s)”, “ASIC” or “ASICs”).
Riot Blockchain, Inc. announces industrial-scale immersion-cooled Bitcoin mining infrastructure at its Whinstone Facility. Image Credit: Riot Blockchain, Inc.
The development of 200 MW of immersion-cooling at industrial-scale is a direct result of the Company’s focus on Bitcoin mining infrastructure development, led by Riot’s leadership team at Whinstone.
“After months of research and development, utilizing partnerships across industries, Riot is proud to be a pioneer in the use of cutting-edge immersion-cooling technology at an unprecedented scale,” said Jason Les, CEO of Riot. “By leveraging technology, industry-leading low power costs, and economies of scale, Riot intends to continue driving operating and capital efficiencies for its self-mining business and its institutional clients. Due to these efficiencies, we anticipate observing an increase in the Company’s hash rate and productivity through 2022, without having to rely solely on purchasing additional ASICs.”
Riot to Integrate Immersion-Cooling at Whinstone
Of the previously announced 400 MW expansion of Whinstone, 200 MW of the infrastructure is committed to utilizing immersion-cooling technology in Bitcoin mining. This development covers two of the buildings under construction and is expected to host approximately 46,000 S19 Antminers from Riot’s already-purchased miner fleet.
- Immersion-cooling is an enhanced cooling technique, as compared to standard air-cooling of miners.
- Two of the four buildings currently under development at Whinstone are devoted to utilizing immersion-cooling technology, which represents 200 MW of immersion-cooled Bitcoin mining capacity.
- Combined, the two immersion-cooled buildings are expected to host approximately 46,000 S19 series Antminer ASICs.
- Immersion-cooling technology has never been previously deployed in Bitcoin mining at this scale, to the Company’s knowledge.
- Primary operational benefits of immersion-cooling include prolonging machine life and reducing maintenance requirements, which facilitates enhancements to ASIC productivity.
- Initial deployment of ASICs in the immersion-cooled buildings is expected to commence by the 4th quarter of 2021.
Process of Immersion-Cooling
Immersion-cooling is a technique where Bitcoin mining ASICs are submerged in a specialized fluid, which is circulated to keep the ASICs’ integrated circuits operating at lower temperatures. The heat generated by the ASICs is absorbed by the fluid, and the heated fluid is pumped and circulated to assist in dissipating the heat via a secondary heat exchanger. The cooled fluid is then pumped back through the immersion tank.
Benefits of Immersion-Cooling
When immersion-cooled, ASICs operate in a more stable environment, allowing them to run at higher productivity rates. Based on industry data and the Company’s own preliminary immersion-cooling test results, an estimated 25% increase in hash rate is expected, with an estimated potential to increase ASIC performance by as much as 50%. Riot expects to have more robust test results from the Company’s pilot by the end of Q1 2022. If successful, Riot will be able to leverage its infrastructure development capabilities to increase its Bitcoin mining hash rate without relying solely on purchasing additional mining equipment, resulting in increased operating efficiencies, and thus, capital efficiencies.