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Bitcoin Miner Hut 8 Files Lawsuit With Ontario Power Company

Delbert Williams IIBy No Comments2 Mins Read

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Canada-based Bitcoin (BTC) miner Hut 8 Mining Corporation has filed a lawsuit in Canadian courts, intensifying its ongoing battle with a power company over one of its mining sites.

Hut 8 said on January 26 that it had filed a complaint in the Ontario Superior Court against Validus Power, the energy supplier for the Hut 8 mining facility in North Bay, Ontario.

The two companies have been in dispute since early November 2022, as Hut 8 claims Validus “failed to meet its contractual obligations” under its Power Purchase Agreement (PPA).

In a new lawsuit, Hut 8 seeks “monetary damages resulting from the dispute” and enforcement of certain provisions under the contract signed by the two companies.

Hut 8 and Validus will begin working together in late 2021, with Validus initially supplying 35 megawatts (MW) of electricity to the North Bay. schedule We plan to deliver around 100 MW by the end of 2021.

Photo of the North Bay facility in June 2022. Several of his ASIC cryptominers are shown. sauce: Hut 8

On November 9, 2022, Hut 8 issued a notice of default to Validus, claiming that it failed to meet the milestones by the dates outlined in the PPA, and that the company offered Hut 8 a higher than conditional price. Claimed to have demanded payment for energy. Contractual.

An update from Hut 8 later that month revealed that Validus had cut energy to the North Bay site. Validus hit back with its own Default Notice claiming Hut 8 failed to pay its electricity bills, a claim Hut 8 denies.

To this day, operations on the site remain suspended. Hut 8 said it was exploring alternatives to reduce the impact of conflict, including through “organic and inorganic growth opportunities”.

Related: The worst days for bitcoin miners may be over, but some key hurdles remain

Before going offline, the North Bay site will have 8,800 cryptocurrency mining rigs and a hash rate capacity of 0.84 exahash per second (EH/s), according to investor decks in December 2022, making it more than half of total production capacity. accounted for more than a quarter. .

Cointelegraph reached out to Validus and Hut8 for comment, but neither company immediately responded.