The bankruptcy judge for Core Scientific has accepted a $20M settlement between Priority Power Management and bitcoin miner Core Scientific.
Judge David Jones approved the transfer of equipment worth about $20.8 million from Core Scientific to Priority Power in a filing made on March 20 in the Southern District of Texas’s US Bankruptcy Court.
The firms were at odds over two mining operations in Texas that were supposed to receive a combined 1,000 megawatts of power to expand Core Scientific’s mining capability.
The bitcoin miner executive Michael Bros stated in a declaration submitted on March 19 that the company hired Priority Power in June 2021 to manage, consult, and create infrastructure exclusively to meet its energy needs “on a short ramp-up timeframe.”
According to Bros, Priority Power “suffered huge losses” after the bitcoin miner ceased paying it in May 2022 because “it became evident that the Facilities would not get the projected power load.”
When Core Scientific filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December of last year, Priority Power asserted that the bitcoin miner owed it almost $30 million for the work it had completed before the miner filed.
According to the judge’s ruling, Priority Power would receive equipment from the now-bankrupt company valued at $20.8 million, including electrical equipment such power transformers and breakers.
The agreement further states that that the bitcoin miner “will promote” Priority Power “to any purchaser” of its Texas-based sites so that it may perhaps enter into an agreement with the new owners for energy management and consultancy.
Also, $514,000 that Priority Power made by reducing power for the bitcoin miner would be kept by the company. Additionally, the miner will pay the company’s “legal fees and out-of-pocket expenses up to $85,000.”
Due to pressure from declining business earnings, low Bitcoin prices, and legal expenses associated with the defunct cryptocurrency lender Celsius, Core Scientific filed for bankruptcy.
In February, Core Scientific and New York Digital Investment Group agreed to settle a $38.6 million debt by turning over more than 27,000 mining rigs that served as collateral. This is not the first time the bitcoin miner has been forced to turn over equipment.