Core Scientific Pays $41.9 Million to Terminate Bitcoin Mining Contract

Core Scientific disclosed in its second-quarter regulatory filing that it has paid $41.9 million to terminate its Bitcoin mining contract with Block and its Proto division, resulting in a loss of $41.9 million. The agreement and future equipment deliveries have been canceled, with Proto originally set to supply 3-nanometer mining chips corresponding to approximately 15 EH/s of computing power, including options for additional purchases. Core Scientific stated that it will no longer invest in new mining machines to maintain or expand its computing power, opting to generate cash flow from its remaining machines and sell or retire them when appropriate. Second-quarter hosting revenue increased from $10.6 million in the same period last year to $137 million, accounting for 83% of total revenue; self-mining revenue fell 66% year-on-year to $21.5 million, making up 13% of total revenue. The company reported a 53% year-on-year decline in quarterly Bitcoin production and continues to shift power from mining equipment to high-density computing systems such as GPUs.