Bitfarms, a global computer infrastructure company known for its Bitcoin mining operations, has entered into a $300 million loan agreement with Macquarie Group to finance the development of its high-performance computing (HPC) data centers.
According to an April 2 announcement, Macquarie’s private debt facility will provide $50 million in initial funding for Bitfarms’ Panther Creek data center project in Pennsylvania.
The remaining $250 million will be released once Bitfarms achieves “specific development milestones at its Panther Creek location,” the announcement said.
Once developed, Panther Creek will have a nearly 500-megawatt capacity fueled by several power sources.
Panther Creek “will be sought after by HPC tenants once construction of the project is underway,” said Joshua Stevens, an associate director at Macquarie Group.
The project is being delivered at a time when AI applications are fueling growing demand for new sources of computational power and data storage capacity. Bitcoin miners are rushing to fill the void — and to secure reliable revenue streams for themselves in a post-halving environment.
However, Bitfarms disclosed in its recent quarterly report that it continues to face “regulatory challenges in expanding its energy capacity,” with the approval timeline ranging from 12 to 36 months.
In the meantime, Bitfarms expects its $125 million acquisition of Stronghold Digital Mining to do much of the heavy lifting in providing additional capacity, CEO Ben Gagnon told investors.
Amid industry pressure, miners are HODLing
Bitfarms mined 654 Bitcoin (BTC) in the final quarter of 2024 at an average all-in cash cost of $60,800.
Like other miners, Bitfarms has elected to retain a significant portion of its mined Bitcoin. Industry data shows it currently holds 1,152 BTC on its books, placing it among the top 25 publicly traded Bitcoin investors.
Miners like Hive Digital have doubled down on their long-term Bitcoin “hodl” strategy as a way to bolster their balance sheet. The company’s Bitcoin holdings have swelled to 2,620 BTC.
Meanwhile, MARA Holdings has accumulated 46,374 BTC and has announced plans for a $2 billion stock offering to acquire more Bitcoin.
Like Bitfarms, Hive Digital, Core Scientific, Hut8 and Bit Digital have also made a strategic pivot toward AI and HPC.
Hive executives told Cointelegraph that the company has repurposed a portion of its Nvidia GPUs for such tasks. They said AI applications can generate more than $2.00 per hour in revenue, compared to just $0.12 per hour for crypto mining activities.
