Bitfarms stock closes 2023 on winning streak

It’s not quite the heady days of 2021 for crypto-miners like Bitfarms (Bitfarms Stock Quote, Chart, News, Analysts, Financials TSX:BITF) but it is some welcome relief for its shareholders.

Shares of BITF on the TSX are spiking today, up 13.9 per cent to $4.51 just minutes into the open.

What’s driving the share price? Bitcoin’s rise, of course, and the fact the company is seeing little slowdown in its ability to produce them.

“In November, we delivered solid performance in the face of network difficulty increases from more miners coming on-line going into the 2024 halving and, in anticipation of the halving, we initiated our 2024 transformative fleet upgrade plan,” CEO Geoff Morphy said at the beginning of December. “We placed a firm purchase order for 35,888 high-performance Bitmain T21 miners, which are scheduled for deliveries from March, 2024, to May, 2024. Deploying these new miners at seven of our eight existing farms in Quebec in conjunction with the development of our new Paso Pe, Paraguay, site, we expect to increase our operating capacity 29 per cent to 310 MW [megawatts] and our hashrate 88 per cent to 12 EH/s [exahashes per second] in H1 2024. With a contract price of $14.00/TH [terahash] and advanced high-energy features applying to the purchase order, and the option in H2 2024 for 28,000 additional miners, these next-gen miners will drive significant efficiencies throughout our portfolio and generate improved profit margins.”

Bitfarms mined 392 BTC in November of 2023 compared to 453 in November of last year.

Of course the price of Bitcoin has made up for that, climbing approximately 170 per cent in 2023 and trading above (US) $43,000 today. The world’s favorite cryptocurrency hit an all-time high of $68,997.76 in 2021.