TORONTO, April 06, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Fortress Technologies Inc. (TSX-V: FORT) (“Fortress” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce the launch of a new Environmental, Social, and Governance (“ESG”) conscious Bitcoin mining venture with Great American Mining (“GAM”), thereby increasing its existing Bitcoin production and positioning the company for further growth and investments in Bitcoin mining and greenhouse gas emissions reduction and offset markets.
Last spring, Fortress decided to allocate balance sheet capital to Bitcoin, recognizing the need to diversify its treasury assets. This move was made months before other more famous investors and publicly traded companies made a similar decision.
In the fall of 2020, Fortress initiated an internal project to seek out opportunities that could grow our Bitcoin mining operations. What concerned our board was the increasing resistance from society to the environmental footprint associated with the Bitcoin mining sector, and consequently we sought an alternative method while also pursuing other ESG related investment opportunities. We believed the future of institutional-backed Bitcoin mining would be environmentally conscious and initiated a rigorous research process into various existing and developmental applications.
Ultimately, our research led us to a specific company, Great American Mining (“GAM”), which was profitably mining Bitcoin by utilizing an environmentally conscious and greenhouse gas reducing approach. Great American Mining’s novel technology captures methane waste gas, a greenhouse gas emitted during the extraction of many hydrocarbon resources and many times more potent than CO2 emissions, and converts the stranded waste gas into a productive energy source for Bitcoin mining. Great American Mining’s operations thereby capture and reduce the emissions of this potent greenhouse gas, while also producing Bitcoin at a price per kWh well below the all-in rates for on-grid miners. We were impressed both with Great American Mining’s mission and execution, believing this innovation was precisely what was needed to advance Bitcoin mining into a more ESG compliant asset class for institutional investors. Consequently, we have partnered with the Great American Mining team to scale our overall hash power and Bitcoin mining operations utilizing GAM’s ongoing operating partnerships.
Great American Mining is unique in having a team with both the skill and experience to execute large scale deployments of the type we are envisaging, while also being co-led by a well respected and trusted thought leader in the Bitcoin sector, Marty Bent. While many have marveled at the prospect of environmentally conscious Bitcoin mining, Great American Mining has successfully executed and built out the gas conversion and electrical infrastructure along with active PDUs and software necessary to control a decentralized network of mining nodes throughout hydrocarbon rich fields. Furthermore, Great American Mining’s strategic focus on off-grid energy generation as part of the long-term viability of their business is another reason why we are excited to partner with them. Mining off-grid significantly decreases operational risk over time as demand for on-grid power purchase agreements from bitcoin miners and other energy consumers gets more competitive.
Furthermore, this presents an immense opportunity in scale for us to pursue, as all of the vented/flared gas in the US converted to electrical power would yield approximately 7.4 GW, which in turn represents about 50-70% of the total power converted by the Bitcoin network currently.
Operational Deployment Schedule
Fortress has advanced GAM an initial sum to purchase pre-ordered mining equipment and begin hashing as early as May. We intend to deploy as much as $15 million CAD with Great American Mining and believe we can increase our company’s hashpower from 19.5 PH/s to approximately 180 PH/s within 3-4 months.
“Through my experience as the co-founder of Bitfarms, one of the largest and most successful Bitcoin mining companies in the world, I have come to appreciate that institutional investors would like to deploy capital into Bitcoin but not at all costs. The single biggest hurdle for these investors appears to be the environmental footprint caused by conventional Bitcoin mining. I believe the future of Bitcoin mining will need to be environmentally conscious, seeking out stranded energy sources and repurposing waste and emitted gases to productively secure the Bitcoin Blockchain, and that both investors as well as the Bitcoin mining community will place a premium on companies who pursue this kind of forward-thinking activity. I believe the team at Great American Mining exhibits the right qualities having the execution capabilities as well as the passion to succeed. We are honored to be partnering with them in this venture. With this transaction, Fortress formally enters the field as a well-capitalized publicly traded company mining Bitcoin while doing well by nature. This theme of doing well by nature, improving the quality of our planet and our soil, and reducing the global carbon footprint indeed will become a mission statement for Fortress and part of our business activity going forward,” said Roy Sebag, Chairman of Fortress Technologies Inc.
About Fortress Technologies
Fortress Technologies Inc. (TSX-V: FORT) is a well-capitalized company focused on developing projects where access to growth capital is highly valued, which can also advance ESG and environmentally conscious business initiatives.
For further information, please contact:
Aydin Kilic
Chief Executive Officer
604 477 9997
ir@fortressblockchain.io
Cautionary Statement
Trading in the securities of the Company should be considered highly speculative. No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains certain “forward-looking information” within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws that are based on expectations, estimates and projections as at the date of this news release. The information in this release about future plans and objectives of the Company, are forward-looking information. Other forward-looking information includes but is not limited to information concerning: the establishment and prospects for the Bitcoin mining venture with Great American Mining (“GAM”); the intentions, plans and future actions of the Company, as well as the Company’ ability to successfully mine digital currency; revenue increasing as currently anticipated; the ability to profitably liquidate current and future digital currency inventory; volatility of network difficulty and, digital currency prices and the resulting significant negative impact on the Company’s operations; the construction and operation of expanded blockchain infrastructure as currently planned; and the regulatory environment of cryptocurrency in applicable jurisdictions.
Any statements that involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, future events or performance (often but not always using phrases such as “expects”, or “does not expect”, “is expected”, “anticipates” or “does not anticipate”, “plans”, “budget”, “scheduled”, “forecasts”, “estimates”, “believes” or “intends” or variations of such words and phrases or stating that certain actions, events or results “may” or “could”, “would”, “might” or “will” be taken to occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking information and are intended to identify forward-looking information.
This forward-looking information is based on reasonable assumptions and estimates of management of the Company at the time it was made, and involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Such factors include, among others, risks relating to: the inability to operate the Bitcoin mining venture with GAM on a profitable basis or at all and thereby impairing the investment in the venture; the global economic climate; dilution; the Company’s limited operating history; future capital needs and uncertainty of additional financing; the competitive nature of the industry; currency exchange risks; the need for the Company to manage its planned growth and expansion; the effects of product development and need for continued technology change; protection of proprietary rights; the effect of government regulation and compliance on the Company and the industry; network security risks; the ability of the Company to maintain properly working systems; reliance on key personnel; global economic and financial market deterioration impeding access to capital or increasing the cost of capital; and volatile securities markets impacting security pricing unrelated to operating performance. In addition, particular factors which could impact future results of the business of the Company include but are not limited to: the ability to establish the Bitcoin mining venture with GAM on the agreed schedule in accordance with the contract terms and the potential for further improvements to profitability and efficiency across mining operations; the construction and operation of blockchain infrastructure may not occur as currently planned, or at all; expansion may not materialize as currently anticipated, or at all; the digital currency market; the ability to successfully mine digital currency; revenue may not increase as currently anticipated, or at all; it may not be possible to profitably liquidate the current digital currency inventory, or at all; a decline in digital currency prices may have a significant negative impact on operations; an increase in network difficulty may have a significant negative impact on operations; the volatility of digital currency prices; the ability to complete current and future financings; any regulations or laws that will prevent the Company from operating its business; historical prices of digital currencies and the ability to mine digital currencies that will be consistent with historical prices; an inability to predict and counteract the effects of COVID-19 on the business of the Company, including but not limited to the effects of COVID-19 on the price of digital currencies, capital market conditions, restriction on labour and international travel and supply chains; and, there will be no regulation or law that will prevent the Company from operating its business. The Company has also assumed that no significant events occur outside of the Company’s normal course of business. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The Company undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking information other than as required by law.
