Bitcoin mining company TeraWulf (WULF) raised $17 million in capital in the third quarter, but its liquidity remains at $4.5 million, according to a statement on its third quarter earnings released after the market close on Monday.
The $17 million came from $9.5 million in equity from existing investors and $7.5 million of incremental proceeds under a term loan. The Monday statement said that $138.5 million of principal under the term loan was outstanding at the end of the quarter.
Cash flow has proven to be a key determinant of miners’ ability to navigate the bear market, with some major miners facing liquidity crises that could even lead them to bankruptcy.
TeraWulf’s costs of revenue increased dramatically in the quarter as energy prices in New York State, where it mainly operates, soared while it increased its energy demand with new operations. The miner paid 134% in costs per dollar of revenue, compared to 43% in Q2. The miner is trying to bring costs down for 2023, the statement said.
In the same quarter, TeraWulf significantly increased its hashrate, or computing power, and energy capacity that could be used for deploying mining machines. About 50 megawatts (MW) of power were brought online at its mining facility in Lake Mariner in upstate New York. The company had 11,000 miners operating at the end of the quarter, and another 9,000 are scheduled to be plugged into the 50 MW in Lake Mariner. As a result of the expansion, WULF mined 117 bitcoin in the third quarter, compared to 29 in the second quarter.
WULF share prices were down 0.8% in after-hours trading on the Nasdaq on Monday.
TeraWulf also said it “right-sized” its investment in a joint venture with a subsidiary of Talen Energy to 25%. The venture relates to a 200 MW mine in Pennsylvania, dubbed Nautilus.
The miners’ computing power goal for the first quarter of 2023 remained unchanged at 5.8 exahash/second (EH/s).
TeraWulf is one of the most indebted publicly listed miners compared with its equity, data analyzed by CoinDesk in June showed.
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