On Tuesday, Canada-based Bitcoin mining and crypto infrastructure firm Blockstream raised $210 million from the just-concluded convertible notes offering of Blockstream’s Second Mining Note (BMN2).
According to Bloomberg, the miner plans to use funds from BMN2 to finance the official release of the company’s layer-2 technologies, expand its bitcoin mining operations, and increase its bitcoin stash by purchasing more BTC from the open market.
BMN2 Yields $210 Million
As revealed in Blockstream’s release, it designed BMN2 to mirror its first issue of convertible notes, BMN1, which successfully yielded about 32% return over BTC.
The offering of BMN2 began on October 5, with U.S.-based venture capital firm Fulgur Ventures leading the ten-day funding round. During this period, the notes were made available to only eligible non-U.S. investors and priced at $21.23 per Terahash per second (TH/s).
Non-professional investors interested in BMN2 must have a minimum investment of $115,000, while institutional investors can accrue the notes with at least $10,000.
Blockstream Plans BTC Shopping and Layer-2 Tech Rollout
The miner wants to speed up the development and launch of its layer-2 solutions, including the Liquid Network, which can roll out many tokenized assets, and Core Lightning, built to process faster Bitcoin transactions.
Layer-2 refers to a technology or solution that functions on top of an existing blockchain protocol, enhancing its efficiency and scalability.
Led by Dr. Adam Back, a veteran Bitcoin developer, Blockstream does not want to rely only on hodling its mined tokens. It intends to shop for more BTC amid the recovering crypto market.
“This latest fundraise represents a defining moment for Blockstream as we embark on a critical new phase of growth to further bridge the gap between Bitcoin and the wider world of finance,” Back said.
BTC Miners Boost Holdings with Market Buys
Blockstream’s fundraising is similar to a recent move from the famous U.S.-based Bitcoin mining firm Marathon Digital, which issued about $250 million about $250 million in convertible notes and used proceeds from the offering to purchase 4,144 BTC.
Since adopting a complete Bitcoin hodl strategy, Marathon owns more than 25,000 BTC.
Similarly, Bitcoin miner Cathedra suspended its mining activities. It switched its business model to data center development and planned to invest realized profits in BTC acquisition to continue increasing shareholders’ bitcoin per share.
