Swan Bitcoin, a cryptocurrency services firm, has announced the launch of its mining operations. The company, which is preparing for a public listing, aims to achieve a hash rate of 8 exahashes per second (EH/s) by 2024.
The newly unveiled mining unit is already operational, as reported by CoinDesk, and is part of Swan Bitcoin’s strategic growth ahead of its initial public offering (IPO). The mining operation is expected to bolster the company’s revenue streams and provide a foundation for its public market debut.
Bitcoin mining is the network’s consensus mechanism by which new Bitcoins are entered into circulation. In this process also known as proof-of-work, node operators, or miners, validate transactions on the blockchain in exchange for rewards.
Bitcoin adds a new block of transactions to its blockchain every 10 minutes which comes with 6.25 Bitcoins as the miner’s reward. This amount is cut in half roughly every four years, in an event known as “the halving.”
As halving slows down the amount of Bitcoin generation, some market watchers argue that Bitcoin’s scarcity increases every halving cycle which can have a positive effect on the cryptocurrency’s price.
The next halving is expected to occur this coming April and will reduce mining rewards to 3.125 Bitcoins per block.