UPDATED 01:35 EST / FEBRUARY 25 2015

NEWS

Another one for the list: Bitcoin miner Aquifer files for bankruptcy

5700464324_28cca1a32d_nCalifornia based Bitcoin miner Aquifer LLC has filled for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as the continuing low price of Bitcoin makes it difficult for large scale mining operations to produce a profit.

In a filing to the US Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California February 19th, Aquifer said it had between $1m and $10m in assets, but conversely $1m and $10m in outstanding liabilities.

The company has between one and 49 creditors, but it noted that it expects to have sufficient funds available to repay unsecured creditors.

While still trading Aquifer claimed to have built one of the largest Bitcoin network infrastructure and transaction processing data centers in the world. Claimed highlights included power capacity at its facility exceeding 100 MW, a perfect aircooling system, and power costs among the lowest in the United States.

Aquifer offered clients hosting relationships, as well as hash power leasing services and off-market BTC contract sales.

The company was privately funded so it’s not clear how much was lost with it closing its doors, but it would certainly, given the debts declared, be somewhere in the vicinity of single figure millions.

News of Aquifer’s closure follows the news late January that competitor CoinTerra had closed its doors and filled for bankruptcy under similar circumstances, and prior to that CEX.IO.

At the time of writing Bitcoin is $239.86, a figure that continues to make life extraordinarily difficult for Bitcoin miners. Every company has a different setup and cost base, but it’s generally believed that a figure of around $400 per Bitcoin is the point where Bitcoin mining pays for itself, a number that’s far higher than the current price of Bitcoin is today, or has been at any point during 2015.


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