HIVE block reward miner acquires Swedish data center in European expansion

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HIVE Digital Technologies (TSXV: HIVE | OTCQX: HVBTF | FSE: HBF) has announced the acquisition of a data center in the northern county of Norrbotten in Sweden in a bid to expand its European presence.

The Canadian miner, which rebranded from Hive Blockchain Technologies in July to signal a diversification of interest into AI and other Web3 areas, is set to pay $750,000 in cash and $1.5 million in common shares.

The data center is in Boden in Sweden’s Norrbotten County and is located close to HIVE’s existing operation in the Scandinavian country. It was previously constructed as part of Horizon 2020, the European Union’s ambitious project by the region to invest €80 billion ($88 billion) in research and innovation. HIVE revealed that it would use the center to house new generation ASIC servers as it seeks to ramp up its BTC production ahead of next year’s halving.

“The new data center will enable HIVE to grow its regional footprint while further demonstrating its commitment to its ESG focus, sustainable practices, environmental responsibility, and energy efficiency with its newest “green” energy-powered data center,” commented Johanna Thornblad, the company’s president for Sweden.

“HIVE is excited about the opportunities that this acquisition brings and looks forward to further contributing to the economic development and prosperity of the Boden community,” he added.

The expansion comes at a time when BTC has seen a record-breaking surge in hash rate, pushing the mining difficulty to 68T, the highest ever.

The hash rate surge signals a change in fortunes for BTC miners who were dealt big blows by a dip in BTC price, changes in regulations, and a hike in power costs in the past year. 2022’s digital currency collapses were the straw that broke the camel’s back for some big players like Core Scientific and Compute North, which ended up filing for bankruptcy.

And while the miners recover, a report earlier this month revealed that some miners are massively overvalued. The report by MinerMetrics singled out Marathon Digital and Riot Platforms as two of the most overvalued companies, which they attributed to investments by giants like Vanguard and BlackRock.

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