Bitcoin miner sells 1,619 Bitcoin at a $47 million loss before its AI data center paid rent

Bitcoin miner Cipher Digital sold 1,619 Bitcoin for $123.4 million and booked $47.7 million in realized losses. Its filing shows $66.7 million in interest expense against $24.8 million in mining revenue, roughly 2.7-to-1.

Cipher ended June with 646 Bitcoin worth $37.8 million, and quarterly mining revenue fell from $43.6 million a year earlier, with the second quarter carrying $23.5 million of the realized loss.

The second quarter revenue came entirely from Bitcoin mining at Odessa. The Black Pearl rent clock started after June 30, and Cipher began delivering initial Black Pearl data center capacity at the beginning of August, two months ahead of the original schedule, and rent had commenced by the time it released its Aug. 4 business update.

Cipher disclosed no amount collected and no quarter-by-quarter ramp, making it impossible to measure its weight relative to Bitcoin sales and external financing.

Cipher taps Bitcoin, stock and project debt

Cipher sold 1,619 Bitcoin in the first half as Q2 interest expense reached 2.7 times mining revenue before Black Pearl rent began.

During the first half, operations consumed $152 million of cash, and Cipher spent $964.3 million on property and equipment. Bitcoin sales brought in $123.4 million, and financing activities supplied a net $2.84 billion, including $129.2 million from at-the-market stock sales.

The filing records company-wide cash flows without assigning the Bitcoin proceeds to one project.

As of June 30, Cipher held $831.8 million in cash and cash equivalents, plus $3.73 billion of restricted cash unavailable for general corporate use. Black Pearl’s $2 billion notes are held by project entities and are secured. Cipher’s parent still carries limited construction-completion exposure, along with customary recourse carve-outs.

A $150.5 million noncash warrant charge swelled Cipher’s quarterly net loss to $267.5 million. Google received the warrants for backing the separate Barber Lake lease, so the charge belongs to that deal, separate from Black Pearl operations and cash debt service.

The third quarter will be the first quarter to include the Black Pearl rent period. Its size, besides interest, buildout spending, and any further Bitcoin sales, will show how much funding pressure has actually shifted.