Bitcoin mining company declares itself largest miner by capacity 

The virtual currency’s price grew 16% to $7,400 in a week, as the US Congress prepares to examine whether cryptocurrencies constitute money.

Hut 8, a Bitcoin mining company out of Toronto, Canada, announced this week that it has finished its second mining facility in Canada, which the company claims makes it the world’s “largest publicly-traded” miner in raw capacity.

The new Medicine Hat facility joins Hut 8’s existing Alberta facility in the town of Drumheller, with the company now achieving 66.7 MW of aggregate operating capacity, according to a company press release.

With this capacity, Hut 8 CEO Andrew Kiguel said that his company is now “the largest cryptocurrency miner in Canada and the largest publicly-traded cryptocurrency miner by operating capacity in the world.”

Hut 8 has mined around 1,900 Bitcoins (about $14.12 million US at current prices) since starting operations in December. Hut 8 was listed on TSX Venture Exchange in March.

A new study by the Bank of Canada revealed that Bitcoin familiarity and ownership was on the rise in Canada, with mining company officials increasingly bullish on its prospects for the future. However, miners in the province of Quebec have been slapped with higher electricity prices amid complaints that Bitcoin mining operations have little tangible economic value.

Lawmakers in from the US Congress’s Financial Policy Subcommittee plan to examine “the extent to which the United States government should consider cryptocurrencies as money” on Thursday, including for use by the central banking system. Meanwhile, the House Committee on Agriculture is set to focus on emerging “digital assets.”

Source: Sputnik – Bitcoin Gold Rush: Canadian Company Declares Itself Largest Miner by Capacity

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