Chinese firm 500.com turns to years-old hardware as it scales up bitcoin mining operations

500.com, the Chinese company that recently announced its acquisition of mining pool service BTC.com, said Monday that it completed a mining hardware transaction — one that saw the firm obtaining models that date back to 2016.

As previously reported, 500.com — indirectly backed by Chinese state capital — quietly built up a mining business after making its start as an internet lottery company. Its planned buy-out of BTC.com put the Chinese firm's operations in the public spotlight, including the bid to build a more powerful mining operation. 

According to the statement, the latest deal "was previously announced on January 11, 2021. The bitcoin mining machines acquired in this transaction (the “Bitcoin Mining Machines”) include such models as the S17, T17, M20s and S9."

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"The theoretical maximum total hash rate capacity of the Bitcoin Mining Machines is estimated to be approximately 918.5 PH/s," the firm said. "Once fully deployed, the Company estimates that all of its bitcoin mining machines, including the Bitcoin Mining Machines, will have a total hash rate capacity of up to approximately 1000 PH/s in aggregate."

The acquisitions were made "in exchange for an aggregate of 11,882,860 newly-issued Class A ordinary shares valued at US$1.21 per share, corresponding to US$12.10 per American Depositary Share (“ADS”) (based on the ratio of ten ordinary shares per ADS), the closing trading price of the Company’s ADSs on January 8, 2021," per 500.com.

The inclusion of the Antminer S9 — a long-time bitcoin mining workhorse that first debuted on the market in 2016 — is notable and speaks to heightened demand for any hardware that produces a financial return at today's sky-high bitcoin prices. Bitmain announced a special edition version of the S9 in mid-2019, and both the Antminer T17 and WhatsMiner M20 were launched that same year.