Antminer S21 Shakes Up ASIC Market, While Luxor RFQ Expands Global Reach

In a bustling month for cryptocurrency mining, Bitmain‘s Antminer S21 has reset market dynamics. The new ASIC model, boasting a 200 TH/s hashrate and 17.5 J/TH energy efficiency, was unveiled in Hong Kong. Consequently, prices of existing S19 models have dropped, challenging investors who bought at higher prices, according to hashrateindex.

Meanwhile, Luxor RFQ’s global influence is soaring. In September, Luxor successfully supplied ASIC miners to six new countries: Nigeria, Georgia, UAE, Finland, Kuwait, and South Africa. This marks a geographically diverse expansion for Bitcoin’s mining operations. The demand for ASIC miners is not waning, despite the industry’s ups and downs.

The star of Luxor’s platform in September was the used S19 with a 95 TH/s hashrate. Over 1000 units found new homes. The runner-up was the S19j Pro, with more than 640 units sold. Because of Bitmain‘s promotional pricing for the S21, buyers expect older machines to decline in price. This has increased the bid-ask gap for these models.

Heading into Q4, Luxor anticipates moderate increases in bids and asks for newer-generation models. The discounted Antminer S21 is now available in smaller order sizes, breaking Bitmain’s minimum order quantity of 6,000. However, North American buyers should be cautious. Due to rising air shipping costs, overall procurement costs are expected to rise by $0.3 to $0.6/TH.

In spite of challenges like Bitcoin’s rising hashrate and difficulty, demand remains strong. Luxor’s RFQ volume in September was fueled by aggressive buy-side demand for new and used machines. Strong interest came especially for machines with higher hashrates, over 100 TH/s.

Firmware optimization is a key reason for the demand in used machines. Miners are buying vanilla S19s for around $5/TH and optimizing them with firmware like LuxOS. As a result, open interest for all used rigs surpassed 21,000 machines in September. In summary, the Antminer S21 has disrupted the market, leading to a 7% decrease in pricing for new S19 models.