Cipher Targets 71% Boost in Bitcoin Hashrate With Black Pearl Deployment
Cipher (NASDAQ: CIFR) has said it aims to boost its proprietary Bitcoin hashrate by 71% to 23.1 EH/s as it prepares to energize its Black Pearl data center in Texas and deploy a new batch of mining rigs by July.
In its May production update on Wednesday, Cipher said the hashrate expansion is tied to the Phase I completion of Black Pearl, where legacy rigs from its Odessa site have already been relocated and installed, awaiting energization later this month.
The company also noted that it has finalized the purchase of new machines to fill the site’s full 150-megawatt Phase I capacity. The rigs are expected to arrive and be deployed in early July, pushing Cipher toward its expanded target.
If realized, the increase would mark one of the more significant hashrate jumps among U.S.-listed miners this year, positioning Cipher to better compete amid increasingly compressed post-halving margins.
Cipher mined approximately 179 BTC in May, which implies a realized hashrate of 11 EH/s. It sold 64 BTC, ending the month with 966 BTC in treasury. The sale marked its lowest monthly liquidation in nearly a year.
Since May 2024, Cipher has regularly sold its mined Bitcoin and drawn down reserves to fund operations and infrastructure buildout, including its Texas data center expansion. Its bitcoin reserve has declined from a peak of 2,284 BTC in August 2024 to a low of 855 BTC in April.
The update comes amid a broader industry ramp-up. As reported earlier, Marathon Digital (NASDAQ: MARA), CleanSpark, and Riot Platforms (NASDAQ: RIOT) each posted notable gains in realized hashrate last month, while IREN and HIVE are also expected to report increased capacity.
