Grayscale launches new unit to take stake in bitcoin mining hardware

Grayscale Investments has formed a private, co-investment opportunity dedicated to bitcoin (BTC-USD) mining hardware such as computer rigs, the digital currency asset manager said in a release Thursday. The New York-based company will leverage Foundry, its affiliated digital asset mining and staking infrastructure firm, to manage the day-to-day operations of Grayscale Digital Infrastructure Opportunities, it said. The entity is now available for eligible individual and institutional investors at a minimum stake of $25K, according to a Bloomberg report. The funding is expected to end before the end of Q4, Grayscale CEO Michael Sonnenshein told the news outlet. “Our team has long been committed to lowering the barrier for investing in the crypto ecosystem – from direct digital asset exposure, to diversified thematic products, and now infrastructure through GDIO,” Sonnenshein said in a separate statement. The launch comes as firms seeks to capitalize on the embattled crypto mining space as suppressed token prices and high energy costs reduce mining hardware prices. CleanSpark (CLSK), for instance, recently acquired 10K additional Bitmain Antminer S19j Pro mining rig for $28.0M, taking advantage of a steep discount. Previously, (May 16) Grayscale to expand its crypto-focused ETF beyond the U.S.