Canaan unveils new bitcoin-mining machine in Hong Kong as old equipment becomes less profitable after ‘halving’ event
Canaan, a Singapore-based cryptocurrency-mining equipment maker, has unveiled in Hong Kong an energy-saving machine designed to help miners stay competitive after the rewards for mining bitcoin were reduced by 50 per cent after the recent “halving” event.
The Nasdaq-listed company launched the latest A1566 model of its flagship Avalon A15 series on Thursday at the Bitcoin Asia 2024 conference. The debut of the new mining rigs came weeks after bitcoin’s fourth halving event.
Occuring roughly every four years, halving is an algorithmic instruction built into the bitcoin blockchain to manage the cryptocurrency’s supply and maintain its scarcity.
The latest halving event, which occurred on April 19, slashed the amount of bitcoin that miners receive for operating the powerful computers that verify transactions on the blockchain. That means older computers that are less energy-efficient will need to spend more on electricity to obtain the same quantity of bitcoin as before.
“The bitcoin halving is a challenge, but also an opportunity, ” said Davis Hui, vice-president at Canaan, in an interview with the Post.
As halving reduces the supply of new bitcoin, halving events have historically triggered a sharp rise in the cryptocurrency’s price. The past three halvings – in 2020, 2016 and 2012 – resulted in an average price increase of 16 per cent over the following 60 days, according to 10x Research, a digital asset consultancy.
“That’s why we chose this timing to launch our new bitcoin-mining machines to help our miners get through this time’s halving,” Hui said. The new machine can compute more data, while consuming less energy compared to previous models, he said.
Despite the latest halving event, bitcoin prices have been on a downward trend in recent weeks, as the US Federal Reserve puts off cutting interest rates.
Canaan last year reported a 67.5 per cent plunge in total revenue to US$211.5 million, citing lower selling price of its equipment because of “overall soft purchasing power from the market demand front”. Mining equipment sales revenue fell 71.5 per cent to US$175.9 million, according to the company’s financial statement.
“While we acknowledge the persisting challenges of the ongoing bearish market for mining machines, we draw inspiration from the recent approval and listing of spot bitcoin ETFs,” said Nangeng Zhang, chairman and CEO of Canaan.
Hong Kong’s spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds, the first of its kind in Asia, debuted last week, after 11 US-listed spot bitcoin ETFs began trading in January following a green light from the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
Founded in 2013, Canaan has businesses in the US, Canada, the Middle East and Southeast Asia, with over 20 maintenance support sites around the world.
