Bankruptcy Survivor Core Scientific Self-Mines $175M Worth Of Bitcoin In Q1

Bitcoin miner Core Scientific has released its first quarter 2024 earnings report, and it came with some significant highlights, including over 2,000 Bitcoin (BTC) it self-mined and a jump in revenue compared to Q1 2023.

In its Q1 2024 earnings press release, the Austin-based crypto miner, which emerged from bankruptcy in January, revealed that it generated a net income of $210.7 million and ended the quarter with $98.1 million in cash and cash equivalents. It lodged total revenues of $179.3 million, compared to $120.7 million during the same period last year.

A key point in the report is that it "earned 2,825 self-mined Bitcoin, more than any other publicly listed miner in North America" in Q1. The said number of BTC is worth some $175 million based on current prices.

"We delivered outstanding results in the first quarter, earning more Bitcoin than any other publicly traded Bitcoin miner, strengthening our balance sheet by paying down debt and improving our cash position, and improving our fleet efficiency with the deployment of new generation miners," Adam Sullivan, the CEO of Core Scientific, said.

Core Scientific's remarkable revival comes as the company is fresh off bankruptcy after the court approved its bankruptcy exit in January. It has since been relisted on the Nasdaq.

In its fiscal year 2023 earnings report, the once-bankrupt firm miner revealed that it mined more than 19,000 BTC last year, some 13,000 of the said figure having been self-mined. At the time, Sullivan said Core Scientific had emerged from its restructuring as a "stronger, more focused and more productive" miner that has its eyes on self-mining growth.

Sullivan shared the company's plans post-halving, given the event's impact on Bitcoin mining rewards. He said in an interview with CNBC last month that Core will focus on expanding its Bitcoin mining footprint within the next several years and potentially look into other business lines to "monetize" its asset base "in the best way possible."

Ahead of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in 2022, Core Scientific warned that it was nearing a "cash burn." Bitcoin prices were plummeting at the time following the shock collapse of cryptocurrency giant FTX.

Aside from the crypto winter triggered by FTX's collapse and its founder's financial scandal, Core Scientific had also been grappling over power bills with another miner, Celsius, one of its biggest customers. Core said Celsius had not been paying its dues, while Celsius said Core unilaterally hiked its power rate. Celsius filed for bankruptcy several months before Core.