AirNet Technology Inc. (Formerly AirMedia Group) Returns to Bitcoin Mining After Ethereum's PoS Merge

After the negative impact of Covid-19 on the commercial flight industry, AirNet (formerly known as AirMedia Group Inc.) diversified into Ethereum mining in 2021

AirNet Technology Inc. (AIRC) is planning to enter into a joint venture (JV) with LLP STH Corp to build a large-scale liquid-cooled Bitcoin mining facility in Kazakhstan. The facility will have a total capacity of 130MW, with 70MW being powered by the national grid and 60MW being powered by a natural gas self-generation facility. It will also utilize liquid-cooling technology to increase efficiency and reduce energy consumption.

The JV will be formed by AirNet's subsidiary, Blockchain Dynamics Limited, and LLP STH Corp, a company focused on developing and managing large-scale projects in Kazakhstan. The parties have agreed to cooperate in good faith to complete the JV agreement by July 31, 2024.

AirNet is a technology company that provides in-flight entertainment and connectivity solutions. The company diversified into cryptocurrency mining in 2021 following the impact of Covid-19 on the commercial flight industry, which affected its core business. AirNet acquired several units of GPU rigs and Ethereum-specific ASIC miners to mine ETH, which was still using Proof-of-Work at the time.

However, after Ethereum transitioned to Proof-of-Stake on September 15, 2022, AirNet's hardware became obsolete and the company gradually ceased its mining operations by March 2024.

Later that year, AirNet decided to re-enter the cryptocurrency mining sector, focusing this time on Bitcoin, which still uses Proof-of-Work. In May 2024, AirNet acquired 6,000 units of WhatsMiner M56C liquid-cooled Bitcoin ASIC miners from MicroBT, capable of hashing at a speed of 240 penta hashes per second (PH/s).

AirNet also entered into an agreement with BTC KZ to host its mining servers at the latter's Almaty data center, where the temperature remains relatively low throughout the year, enabling efficient liquid-cooling for the miners.

Bitcoin's PoW consensus relies on a global network of miners who utilize specific mining hardware to compete in solving an arbitrary mathematical puzzle, securing the network and validating transactions. The successful miner receives block rewards as an incentive, currently set at 3.125 BTC.

Until September 2022, Ethereum used the same consensus mechanism. Now, Ethereum's PoS consensus involves holders of the ETH crypto token staking their coins on the network to validate transactions, secure the network, and earn rewards based on the number of coins that are staked.