Shares in Bitfarms popped 17% on Thursday after the Toronto-based Bitcoin miner unveiled plans to expand its footprint to Pennsylvania while trying to defend itself from a hostile takeover.The company Bitfarms said it plans to lease the facility in Sharron, Pennsylvania, where computers will constantly crunch complex calculations in verifying Bitcoin transactions. Set to consume massive amounts of power, Bitfarms lauded the location for its “competitive electricity supply.”#Bitfarms Enters into Agreement to Develop 120 MW in U.S.; Provides 2025 Guidance of Over 35 EH/s• First U.S. large scale site supports 8 EH/s in 2025 with deployment of 600 PH/s in 2024• Strategically located in PJM Interconnection market, providing access to low-cost,… pic.twitter.com/4JAbTVfJzl— Bitfarms (@Bitfarms_io) June 13, 2024Housed within the so-called Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland Interconnection, Bitfarm’s chairman and interim CEO Nicolas Bonta said access to the U.S.’s largest wholesale electricity market “enhances [Bitfarm’s] geographical diversification.”Bitfarms said that access to the 11,200-square-foot warehouse in the U.S. had been paid for by issuing 1.5 million in common shares. Listed on the Nasdaq stock market, Bitfarm’s stock price (NASDAQ:BITF) has increased around 140% over the past year to around $2.81, as of this writing.Meanwhile, the company is trying to fight off Riot Platforms, which Accusing Bitfarm’s board of directors of “poor corporate governance,” Riot said it intended to call a meeting of Bitfarm’s shareholders to nominate more independent and better-qualified directors.The move was met with acrimony from Bitfarms, which subsequently “Attacking Bitfarms’ governance is not only hypocritical, but it is a thinly veiled ploy to achieve Riot’s own self-serving agenda and attempt to acquire Bitfarms at a discounted price,” it continued. “Riot has not acted in good faith.”Riot accused Bitfarms of poor governance again as it Poison pills are a common defense tactic in the business world, where a company enacts measures to make its shares less attractive to purchase and discourage potential acquirers.“Instead of engaging with us privately and in good faith, Bitfarms has responded by implementing an off-market poison pill,” Riot CEO Jason Les said in a statement. “We will continue to push to address the serious corporate governance issues at Bitfarms.”Edited by Ryan Ozawa.
