Sam Bankman-Fried Denies FTX's Interest in Troubled Mining Companies
Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange, denied rumors that the company is exploring the possibility of acquiring troubled cryptocurrency mining companies, explaining on Twitter on Saturday that they "don't really consider this sector." He explained that crypto-miners do not fit into the main strategy of the company, and such acquisitions will not bring synergy.
"I don't really know why the meme about FTX and mining companies is spreading, in fact our position is that we don't really consider this sector," Bankman-Fried explained on Twitter on Saturday.
Speculation that FTX is looking for mining companies to acquire appeared in an interview with Bloomberg on Friday after the FTX founder said he did not want to discount "tempting opportunities" in the mining industry, saying:
"We may have a really interesting opportunity-I definitely don't want to discount that possibility."
However, the quote, apparently, was taken out of context, which forced SBF to explain that the company "does not really look at miners", but is "happy to have conversations" with mining companies.
"To make an understanding, I said something like this: "Meh, I don't really look at miners, but, of course, I'm happy to talk to any companies," Bankman-Fried tweeted.
Bankman-Fried also stated during the interview that crypto miners do not fit into the company's core strategy and that he does not see synergies in terms of acquisition:
"I don't see any particular reasons why we need, you know, integration with a crypto miner. From a strategic point of view, there is no particular obvious synergy that is mandatory from the point of view of acquisition," he added.
Mining loans under stress
Bankman-Fried was asked if he was looking for mining companies amid the falling cryptocurrency market, where bitcoin mining revenues have plummeted this year. Sanctions imposed by Western companies in response to the Russian military operation in Ukraine have led to a sharp increase in energy prices, which has had an impact on miners, both small and large.
According to Bitinfocharts, the profitability of mining, which is measured in daily dollars per terahesh per second, has reached a minimum not seen since October 2020. At the time of writing, the profitability of bitcoin mining was $0.0956 per day for 1 Th/s, which is 80% lower than the 2021 maximum of $0.464 per terahash.
A Bloomberg report on June 24 showed that up to $4 billion worth of loans were issued for bitcoin mining, and their number is now growing as bitcoin prices and mining rigs have fallen.
Last week it was reported that the income from bitcoin mining (BTC) showed an annual minimum, unseen since mid-2021. Prior to that, on June 17, bitcoin mining revenue fell to $14.40 million.
Arcane Research data for June showed that the deterioration of mining profitability forced public miners to start liquidating their assets. It turned out that some of these firms sold 100% of their BTC in May - probably to cover operating expenses and repay the loan.
https://coin-signal.com/cryptonews/sam-bankman-fried-denies-ftxs-interest-in-troubled-mining-companies-2/
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