Sino-Global Shipping America, Ltd. Said it plans to enter a Bitcoin (BTC) mining machine joint venture with Highsharp to work on the development, construction and marketing of a mining machine called “Thor”.
Sino-global is a global logistics and ship management services company that was founded in New York and has diversified into the cryptocurrency market, according to the press release. Highsharp is a company focused on blockchain technology, hardware, software and technology management, and cloud computing.
The scope of the joint venture “includes collaborative engineering, technical development and marketing of a proprietary Bitcoin mining machine under the Thor name with exclusive rights to design production, intellectual property, branding, marketing and sales,” the partners said.
This joint venture is also exclusively licensed to manufacture, market and sell the Thor Bitcoin Mining Machine worldwide; it will own all related intellectual property rights and file a utility model application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office for the machine.
Sino-Global said it will make an investment of USD 10m next month to fund the operation of this company.
The company has also agreed to “invest an estimated $50 million over the next few years to support the work being done in the United States,” the announcement said. This includes work on design, testing and integration. “SINO-Global expects to use existing assets, as well as future capital increases, to finance such investments,” they said.
In the meantime, Highsharp will be the exclusive designated supplier of high-performance computing chips for the joint venture, with a separate purchase agreement being signed between the joint venture and Highsharp. The purchase details are determined “based on the actual business volume” of the joint venture.
“This is an important strategic development for Sino-Global with the potential for significant long-term financial benefits,” said Lei Cao, Chief Executive officer of the company. “Recent changes in crypto policy combined with ongoing global component shortages have helped eliminate valuable production capacity for digital mining,” the CEO said, adding that they “intend to fill this vacuum and move aggressively.”