The supply chain crisis, which has affected the shopping habits of consumers across the globe, has extended to Bitcoin and digital assets.
According to a report by Quartz, mining companies are being hindered by the logjam in the global supply chain, resulting in delayed shipments of “miners,” — Sony Playstation-sized computers that operate exclusively to mine BTC. The report claims the disruption has led mining companies to begin chartering jets in order to move miners, in addition to repairing faulty equipment in lieu of more up-to-date machines.
Charlie Schumacher, a spokesperson for Las Vegas-based mining firm Marathon Digital Holdings, told the outlet how dire the situation has become in light of Bitcoin’s ongoing bull market.
Schumacher said,
Every day that a miner is not online is a missed revenue opportunity.
Schumacher revealed that the company had ordered nearly 130,000 miners from Chinese manufacturer Bitmain earlier in the year at $3,000 per machine. The machines are now selling for roughly $10,000 in response to soaring Bitcoin prices and supply chain issues.
Fred Thiel, Marathon’s CEO, explained the delivery time for machines has more than doubled since the spring, averaging about 30 days to the company’s facilities in Montana and Texas.
Thiel said,
The global logistics issues had forced people who traditionally ship by sea to shift their high-value cargo to air.
Marathon began chartering its own planes last month in an effort to fly miners from Malaysia to the US, but has had to deal with a bottleneck in customs processing in airports upon arrival.
Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed by the author, or any people mentioned in this article, are for informational purposes only, and they do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice. Investing in or trading cryptoassets comes with a risk of financial loss.
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