Hive Blockchain Held Onto All the Bitcoin It Mined in 2021, While Selling Some Ether

Canada-based crypto miner Hive Blockchain (HIVE) held onto all of the bitcoins it mined in 2021, while selling some of the ether and all of the Ethereum Classic (ETC) it produced, the company said on Monday.

The Vancouver, British Columbia, based crypto miner said it produced 1,768 bitcoins last year, while mining 41,966 ether, the native token of Ethereum, a portion of which were sold to pay for chip upgrades. The miner also produced 46,209 ETC, all of which it sold in 2021.In total for the year, the miner produced 3,222 of what it calls “bitcoin-equivalent crypto currencies,” combining its production of both bitcoin and ether. This output was worth about $221 million using market prices of $43,000 per bitcoin and $3,400 for ether.“The Company believes its unique position of having a large Bitcoin and Ethereum mining footprint provides investors with a unique value proposition,” said Aydin Kilic, president and chief operating officer of Hive, in a statement.Hive’s monthly bitcoin production rose about 12% for December month-over-month to 245 as it expanded its hashing power, even as network difficulty rose as much as 10%, the company said.Meanwhile, the miner said its ether output fell about 7% from November to 2,178, with the network difficulty for ether rising about 2% in December.Hive’s stock was down more than 5% in early U.S. trading on Monday. Most of its peers were also down as bitcoin and ether prices dropped on Monday. On Jan. 3, Bitcoin miner Bitfarms and Marathon Digital said they both mined over 3,000 bitcoins in 2021 and held onto almost all of the mined coins.

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