Squire forms world’s largest publicly-owned crypto mining operation with CoinGeek acquisition

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Squire Mining Ltd., a listed issuer on the Canadian Stock Exchange, announced on Friday that is has entered into an agreement to acquire crypto mining assets owned by CoinGeek and its affiliates, paving the way for the formation of the largest publicly-owned crypto mining operation in the world—henceforth known as CoinGeek Technologies Ltd.

Under the deal, Squire will take under its wing CoinGeek assets consisting of 62,440 ASIC mining rigs, representing an estimated 960,000 terahash/s or about 90MW of power consumption. These assets are operated by host providers across the United States, with 35,940 rigs, as well as Canada (6,000 rigs), and Kazakhstan (20,500 rigs). The crypto mining assets have an all-in weighted operational cost of US$0.073 per kilowatt hour.

The deal is valued at CAD$60.3 million (US$45.33 million), consisting of 114.8 million Squire common shares worth CAD$34.4 million (US$25.86 million) based on the Nov. 29 closing price of CAD$0.30 (US$0.23) per share. CoinGeek will also receive an unsecured vendor-take-back note worth CAD$25.8 million (US$19.4 million), which it can convert into additional Squire common shares. CoinGeek, for its part, has agreed to enter into a voluntary one-year lock up on the common shares it received.

As part of the agreement, Squire will be taking on CoinGeek’s employees and consultants who are involved with the management and operation of the assets, as well as the CoinGeek.com website and domain, along with all the marketing and advertising assets related to the CoinGeek name.

The Canadian company is also acquiring CoinGeek’s outstanding global distribution agreement for Squire’s ASIC chips and rigs. Earlier this year, Squire granted associates of CoinGeek the exclusive right to market, promote, solicit, sell and distribute Squire’s new ASIC chips and mining rigs to Bitcoin SV and other alt coin miners throughout the world.

Taras Kulyk, chief executive officer at Squire, said: “This transaction would provide Squire with a leading, recognized brand via the acquisition of the CoinGeek.com and CoinGeek name, but it would also make us the largest, publicly traded Bitcoin miner globally. It is expected to deliver significant shareholder value by enabling Squire to become vertically integrated with our growing chip design and manufacturing business, which we would seek to have commercial within 2019.”

“I believe the next phase of growth for this industry is upon us and that means massive scaling of the Bitcoin blockchain to accommodate the throughput needed for enterprises to make use of this technology. By vending my mining and CoinGeek branded assets into Squire, I would be doubling-down on my commitment to Bitcoin’s success. These assets would enable Squire Mining Ltd to compete at a global level to pave a path for enterprise usage of blockchain technology to flourish,” said Calvin Ayre, owner of the CoinGeek brand.