Crypto mining companies Hut 8 Mining Corp. and US Bitcoin Corp (USBTC) have combined operations in an all-stock merger of equals to form a new United States-domiciled entity named Hut 8 Corp (New Hut).
Canada-based Hut 8 announced the completion of the merger on Nov. 30, dubbed as the “largest mergers and acquisitions transaction” in crypto by New Hut CEO Jaime Leverton. Before the merger, Leverton served as CEO of Hut 8 for over three years.
After much anticipation… we’re thrilled to announce the completion of our merger of equals with USBTC! We are now officially operating as a U.S.-domiciled entity, Hut 8 Corp. with 825 MW of energy under management across 11 sites with self-mining, hosting, managed services, and… pic.twitter.com/yJ3uou326o
— Hut 8 (@Hut8Mining) November 30, 2023
The merger will result in the delisting of Hut 8 common stocks from the Toronto Stock Exchange and Nasdaq by or before Dec. 4. It will be replaced by New Hut common stocks under the ticker symbol “HUT.” Amid the delisting and relisting process, Hut8 shareholders received 0.2 of a share of New Hut common stock for every Hut 8 share held.
Asher Genoot, president of New Hut, revealed the company’s plan to ready itself for the upcoming Bitcoin (BTC) halving. By combining resources, “New Hut has access to approximately 825 MW [megawatts] of gross energy across six sites with self-mining, hosting, and managed service operations,” the announcement reads.
Hut8 received final clearance from the Supreme Court of British Columbia to merge with USBTC in September. However, the planning process began in February.
At the time, the merger was subject to court and regulatory approval by U.S. and Canadian authorities. Adding to the legal complexity, USBTC was undergoing “a legal dispute” with the City of Niagara Falls in New York against residents who had criticized the mining operations for their alleged noise pollution. The dispute was settled on April 7.
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X (formerly Twitter) and Block co-founder Jack Dorsey recently took steps to promote the decentralization of Bitcoin mining operations.
Dorsey recently led a $6.2 million seed round for Mummolin, the parent company of the new decentralized Bitcoin mining pool Ocean, which is designed to provide more transparency into the mining process and enable miners to receive block rewards directly from Bitcoin rather than mining pools.
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Update (Dec. 1 at 1:06 pm UTC): This article has been updated to clarify that Hut 8 shareholders received 0.2 of a share of New Hut common stock, rather than a complete share, for every one share of Hut 8 stock held.
