Bitcoin infrastructure and financial services firm NYDIG has acquired bitcoin mining company Consensus Technology Group CTG, according to sources familiar with the matter and Linkedin posts Blockspace reviewed.
Based on LinkedIn job postings, the deal likely closed in October. CTG Co-Founder and CTO David Westrop’s LinkedIn indicates that he began a new operations role for NYDIG last month, as does other CTG co-founder Joshua Zappala’s LinkedIn, which now shows him employed at NYDIG under corporate development and strategy. NYDIG declined to comment on Blockspace’s inquiry on the matter.
According to its website, CTG provides hosting services and operates bitcoin mines in North Dakota, South Dakota, Pennsylvania, and Missouri with a collective capacity of 120 MW and 5 EH/s under management.
NYDIG provides financial services for bitcoin miners and was once one of the largest originators of ASIC-backed loans, a popular financing vehicle from 2020-2022 that used ASIC miners as collateral. These loans famously ruptured in 2022’s bear market for many lenders, including IREN’s $103 million default with NYDIG. When these debts went bust, lenders like NYDIG were forced to repossess the ASICs and put them to work to recoup their capital.
NYDIG has a history of gobbling up assets and companies across the spectrum of financial services, software, and infrastructure. In April 2021, the company acquired Arctos Capital for an undisclosed sum, following the same year with its October purchase of lightning network startup Bottlepay for $300 million in NYDIG stock. In another ASIC loan default event in November 2023, NYDIG took control of Greenidge’s 44 MW South Carolina bitcoin mining facility to settle the remaining $21 million of an outstanding loan.
2024 has been a busy year for NYDIG as it expands its influence in the bitcoin mining sector. Toward the end of October, the company poured an investment into Coinmint’s Massena, NY facility.
The CTG acquisition could be a bellwether for more M&A activity in the bitcoin mining industry now that the Fourth Bitcoin Halving has taken a chunk out of mining margins. As miners face financial difficulties, they may increasingly look to companies like NYDIG to bankroll their operations or as a path to the exit, and it’s likely that the coming year will provide plenty of opportunities for well capitalized firms to subsume distressed companies.
