It Seems That Some Rigs Shuttered (Primarily In China?) Have Been Restarted…

When Bitcoin was consistently down around $3,300 or below (see chart below), the gap between minimum needed electricity forecast and estimated actual had collapsed — the two trend-lines were identical — completely overlapped. That indicated only the minimum amount of electricity for mining would be expected to be consumed.

In the last few weeks, with prices wobbling to and fro, but generally closer to $4,000 (than $3,000)… the gap has re-emerged. We’ve mentioned this before, but it is clear that US based operators are not behind this move. It is clear that the Chinese state actors are offering forwards, on very cheap hydro-electric power — to mostly-privatized bitcoin rig mine operators, and they are in turn buying the forwards / futures — to secure a very low summer “all in” price of consumed electric power.

See the latest below, but as I said — we’ve mentioned this before:

And, here is my earlier screen shot, from end of February 2019 — for comparison (note that even then, the gap was re-opening, in green to the far right):

As we can readily see, this means that Riot’s (relatively-speaking) still very expensive Oklahoma City based electricity consumption charges will leave it at a distinct economic disadvantage (compared to Chinese operators) — if, that is, IF Riot is still operating… this coming summer. [Riot likely needs bitcoin to run in excess of $15,000 per coin, to be economic in the longer haul, even assuming much lower difficulty rates.]

As I’ve said, ad infinitum, for over three months now — I think Riot’s continued existence, in present form… is a less than 50/50 proposition. [And… Riot is officially late with its SEC Form 10-K as of… right now.]

Onward.