SALT LAKE CITY, Dec. 10, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- CleanSpark,
Inc. (Nasdaq: CLSK)("CleanSpark" or the "Company"), an advanced
software and controls technology solutions company, focused on
solving modern energy challenges, today announced it has agreed to
acquire ATL Data Centers, LLC ("ATL") for up to $19.4 million in shares of the Company's common
stock.
Microgrid leader CleanSpark acquires Bitcoin mining firm to deploy
renewable energy solution.
This transaction represents the first strategic acquisition as
part of a larger growth plan following CleanSpark's recent
$40M institutional investment. ATL
creates a unique business opportunity as a full-scale, profitable
demonstration facility for the Company. The property is currently
served by two separate utility interconnections with entirely
different rate structures that power individual segments of the
business. CleanSpark plans to deploy its software technologies and
trade secrets to maximize energy savings, expand total power
capacity, provide resilient electricity, and reduce greenhouse gas
emissions. The Company anticipates that this will involve the
design and installation of multiple microgrids at the facility.
Each microgrid would be focused on a specific function, however,
the fractal topology of the design will enable them to be
interconnected to share power, creating resiliency as well as
maximizing total facility efficiency. Since power resiliency
directly supports increased profitability in data or processor
intensive applications, the Company's ability to deliver high power
reliability is expected to demonstrably increase profitability of
each segment of the existing business.
As part of the first phase, the Company has contracted with the
local municipality to expand the power to the facility from 20MW to
50MW. It is expected that this expansion will begin promptly
and be completed in April 2021. In addition to this initial
utility-level expansion, CleanSpark will begin modeling solutions
with its proprietary mVSO software and subsequently add renewable
energy generating assets and energy storage to the site, which will
be operated by the Company's patented mPulse controls.
Additionally, the Company intends to more than quadruple the number
of ASIC (application specific integrated circuit) mining units in
operation during the expansion.
As the new policies of FERC 2222 begin to take effect over the
coming year, CleanSpark expects to be uniquely positioned to
benefit from the implementation of the regulation using its
GridFabric applications and other technologies to maximize market
opportunities.
Ultimately, it is envisioned that the facility will feature a
real-time web-based view of power and dollar savings generated by
CleanSpark's technology, offering clients a unique opportunity to
see demonstrated savings in a real-world, power-intensive
application. This data will allow clients to make microgrid
investments with more reliable information.
Zachary Bradford, CleanSpark's
CEO said, "As part of our strategic acquisition initiative, we
identified energy-intensive companies facing the greatest amount of
exposure to high power costs and resiliency risk. Our prior
experience in the digital currency mining industry provided insight
into how proper energy management was crucial to successful and
profitable mining operations. In 2018, CleanSpark's energy
professionals were tasked to design and engineer a microgrid
solution for a 'stand-alone' mobile bitcoin mining system. As
part of the ATL complex we now have 23 such mobile mining rigs in
addition to the main facility. This acquisition enables us to take
our prior designs and expand upon them at a much greater
scale. We believe today's transaction allows us to obtain a
significant and rapid return on our investment while further
validating our energy technologies. We began early-stage
analysis of ATL in February 2020 to
evaluate expanding the facility's energy capacity and reducing
energy costs. After an in-depth examination of the profitability
under the existing energy structure, it was apparent that it was a
perfect fit to deploy the aforementioned strategy.
There are currently 3,471 bitcoin mining units ("ASICs") in
daily operation on site, processing approximately 190 PH/s which
are using approximately 9.6 MW of capacity. We anticipate
that upon completion of the equipment and energy expansion, the
facility is expected to produce between 0.9-1.4 EH/s, depending on
the final configuration and ASICs deployed. We expect that this
will result in multiple bitcoins being produced daily at some of
the lowest energy costs in the nation for this type of
enterprise. The Company expects to demonstrate that, by using
our technologies, we can reduce the cost of energy to below
$0.0285 per kw/h. After
successfully deploying the systems, we intend to take this model to
other sites, many of which have significantly higher energy costs
offering potentially greater opportunities for savings."
Matthew Schultz, CleanSpark's
Executive Chairman commented, "The recent, significant investments
into Bitcoin by such respected companies as Square, PayPal, and
MicroStrategy further validate our due diligence conclusions
surrounding this acquisition. Our assessment regarding the
need for renewable energy in digital currency mining was further
supported this week when Square (NYSE: SQ) announced the intent to
deploy $10M towards its Bitcoin Clean
Energy Investment Initiative. This transaction should immediately
position us as one of the largest publicly-traded Bitcoin producers
in the country. We will certainly be the only microgrid
company that owns and controls the distributed energy supply to its
own mining activities, in furtherance of developing our
best-in-class technologies. Our efforts will demonstrate to
potential clients in this space an easily transferable, low risk
for execution model that can quickly enhance their bottom
line."
With respect to the above transaction "Buckman, Buckman &
Reid, Inc. acted as a non-exclusive Investment Advisor. Buckman,
Buckman & Reid, Inc. was founded in 1988 as a registered broker
dealer with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"),
Securities Investor Protection Corp. (SIPC) and member of the
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority ("FINRA"). BB&R is a
full-service securities brokerage firm engaged in a variety of
activities, including retail and institutional brokerage, wealth
management, investment advisory services, private offerings and
other investment banking activities.
Parties interested in learning more about CleanSpark products
and services are encouraged to inquire by contacting the Company
directly at info@cleanspark.com or visiting the Company's website
at www.cleanspark.com.
Investors are encouraged to contact the Company
at ir@cleanspark.com, or visiting the Company's website at
https://ir.cleanspark.com/
CleanSpark periodically speaks at virtual conferences and
events, if the event was recorded the recordings can be found on
the events page at https://ir.cleanspark.com.
About CleanSpark:
CleanSpark, Inc., a Nevada
corporation, is in the business of providing advanced software and
controls technology solutions to solve modern energy
challenges. We have a suite of software solutions that
provide end-to-end microgrid energy modeling, energy market
communications and energy management solutions. Our offerings
consist of intelligent energy monitoring and controls, intelligent
microgrid design software, middleware communications protocols for
the energy industry, energy system engineering and software
consulting services.
About ATL Data Centers, LLC
ATL Data Centers LLC is a traditional data center operation
located in the City of College Park,
GA, just minutes from the Hartsfield-Jackson International
Airport. In addition to providing customers with rack space,
power and equipment, ATL Data Centers LLC also offers several
"Cloud Services" including, virtual services, virtual storage, and
data backup services.
ATL Data Centers also manages 23 mobile data centers, located on
site, which can be used for a variety of purposes, including ASIC
(application-specific integrated circuit) operations or other
services requiring heavy power use. The mobile data centers
allow easy access to server maintenance, and each mobile data
center has dedicated power and cooling. ATL Data Centers LLC
currently has 14 full time staff supporting the data center
operation around-the-clock, 365 days per year. The
management team has a combined industry experience of more than 100
years.
https://www.atl-data.com
Forward-Looking Statements:
CleanSpark cautions you that statements in this press release
that are not a description of historical facts are forward-looking
statements. These statements are based on CleanSpark's current
beliefs and expectations. The inclusion of forward-looking
statements should not be regarded as a representation by CleanSpark
that any of our plans will be achieved. Actual results may differ
from those set forth in this press release due to the risk and
uncertainties inherent in our business, including, without
limitation: the successful integration of ATL into CleanSpark, the
closing of the transaction, the fitness of our energy software and
solutions for this particular application or market, the
expectations of future revenue growth may not be realized, ongoing
demand for our software products and related services, the impact
of global pandemics (including COVID-19) on the demand for our
products and services; and other risks described in our prior press
releases and in our filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC), including under the heading "Risk Factors" in our
Annual Report on Form 10-K and any subsequent filings with the SEC.
You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these
forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof,
and we undertake no obligation to revise or update this press
release to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof.
All forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by
this cautionary statement, which is made under the safe harbor
provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995.
Contact - Investor Relations:
CleanSpark
Inc.
Investor Relations
(801)-244-4405
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SOURCE CleanSpark, Inc.