MGT Capital Announces Ambition to Lead Bitcoin Mining
MGT Capital Investment Inc., headed by cybersecurity pioneer John McAfee, recently announced the launch of its Bitcoin mining operation, stating that it has reached phase one with a larger than expected 2.6 PetaHash of processing power. At present, the facility is mining 90 bitcoin per month and is preparing to expand the processing power to 5.2 Petahash by the end of this year.
By securing low cost electricity contracts via hydroelectric power, MGT Capital’s venture is one of the top five Bitcoin mining operations in the US. The press release states that mining profitability is healthy with the current price conditions and the availability of 16 nanometer ASIC chips.
Prior to the announcement, MGT Capital tested the operation on a smaller scale of 100 TeraHash, providing valuable experience for the team in managing a mining center. As Robert Collazo, Director of Operations for MGT Capital’s Bitcoin mining operations explains, the early triumph with this venture has provided the company with the desire to move into the next phase of its mining operation,
“The early success of our Bitcoin mining business has quickly provided us with the financial proof of concept to move ahead and implement the next phase of our expansion strategy, with a goal of achieving over 5 PetaHash by the end of the year, and the overall goal of 10 PetaHash for the facility,”
John McAfee, Executive Chairman of MGT expanded further,
“The opportunity in the Bitcoin market is tremendous for MGT and is quickly providing a financial benefit for our shareholders. Since announcing the program in July, we have implemented and then ramped up this facility’s processing power to 2.6 PetaHash, which we believe makes MGT one of the top five Bitcoin miners in the U.S. We believe our overall goal of 10 PetaHash for this facility would put us in a leadership position in the global Bitcoin network,”
McAfee also stated on Twitter that the company has considered making the Bitcoin mining pool available to the public so others can get involved with MGT Capital’s venture,
Screw the rest. The money's mine!! No, seriously, we have considered it. https://t.co/Fxdaj8ZvaJ
— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) September 15, 2016
The recognition of Bitcoin as an important cybersecurity technology and its addition to MGT Capital’s portfolio is a testament to the value of the network, with major shareholder Tiffany Madison not only seeing it as an investment in Bitcoin but also in Blockchain technology itself.
The launch of the mining center will position McAfee’s company as one of the largest processors for the demands of the new, upcoming Blockchain technologies, whereby the company will redirect resources in the future to support other tasks on the Blockchain.
