Welcome to the NiceHash crypto news digest. Let's see what happened these last few days.

BitGo Calls Off Prime Trust Acquisition

BitGo, a digital asset custodian, called off its intended acquisition of Prime Trust, despite reaching a preliminary agreement earlier this month. The decision follows Prime Trust's continued loss of clients and deposits amidst business concerns, recent layoffs, and its subsidiary Banq's bankruptcy filing.

Unverified rumours suggest the deal's cancellation could be linked to a speculated cease and desist order from Nevada regulators. Additionally, there are already reports of Prime Trust suspending deposits and withdrawals.

Hut 8 And U.S. Bitcoin Corp. To Merge And Become One Of The Largest Public Miners In North America

Hut 8 Mining and U.S. Bitcoin Corp plan to unite, forming a crypto mining powerhouse in North America named Hut 8 Corp. The merged entity will have a $990m market cap with shared stock ownership. With a hashrate of 7.5 EH/s, it will be a significant player in public Bitcoin mining, only surpassed by Marathon Digital.

Despite previous crypto market downturns, the resurgence of Bitcoin's price enables more profitable mining, especially if you are mining at NiceHash where pay rates are higher than the Hashrate Index base rate. Hut 8 Mining, boasting a robust financial position, will retain its vast Bitcoin holdings, which is worth around $249.7m.

New York City Bathhouse Uses Bitcoin Miners For Heating

NYC spa, Bathhouse, revealed its unique Bitcoin mining operation which simultaneously heats their pools. Based in Brooklyn, Bathhouse detailed on social media how the heat from their mining process warms their pools and is later used to cool the hardware.

Launched in March 2022, this unique heating process is seen by the founders as an energy-efficient solution. Bathhouse, accepting Bitcoin payments, believes their experience shows Bitcoin mining can also be a potential method for heating and hot water generation.

In the last couple of years, there has been a growing interest in using the heat generated by miners. In some situations, mining Bitcoin is not about turning a profit, but about both reducing costs and supporting the blockchain. Heating a pool, a home or even a hotel with ASIC miners is the identical as using electric heaters, but unlike those, ASICs are not just burning electricity.

At Bitcoin 2023 in Miami, NiceHash sponsored a hot tub that was heated by an ASIC miner mining at NiceHash. You can find more about this in our event recap.

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