BTCS Inc., a US public company focused on blockchain technology, has announced that it has increased its Ethereum-mining hosting business to approximately 150 kilowatts ("kw"), up from approximately 50kw announced in March 2016.

In March, the company launched a pilot program to begin securing Ethereum’s blockchain and announced that it has secured an Ethereum-mining hosting contract.

"We have gained valuable expertise since launching our Ethereum pilot program in March," stated Charles Allen, CEO of BTCS. "Ethereum has rocketed to nearly 20% of the market cap of Bitcoin in less than two years, led by rapid adoption and growing support from major players in tech and finance including Gemini and Coinbase (which just rebranded to GDAX). We believe our experience, in connection with additional capital, should allow us to further expand our Ethereum mining and hosting businesses, to diversify our exposure to bitcoin, and to use more of our available power capacity."

Ethereum is a digital currency and blockchain platform focused on smart contract applications. BTCS noted that year to date, the value of Ether, the native currency of the Ethereum network, in USD terms, has grown over 1,300% the total value of all Ether.

The market cap of Ethereum recently broke above the $1 billion mark again driven by the success of the DAO crowdfunding drive, however, it has retreated below this level. At the time of writing ETH/USD is trading at 12.15 levels, with Ethereum’s market cap at $976.69 million.

"With the year-to-date increase in the difficulty of mining Bitcoins, and the more attractive economics currently displayed by Ether, we've taken the opportunity to sell some of our early-generation ASIC ("application specific integrated circuit") servers," continued Allen.

He further said that the company is holding talks with a designer of specialized Ether mining servers, and considering the possibility of being the exclusive hardware assembler for that designer.

“Unlike ASIC servers, Ether mining servers utilize off the shelf computer hardware, custom software and can be made-to-order with limited capital investment. We have the space to operate the assembly business at our NC facility, and we are in talks to become the exclusive distributor”, he added. “While we can provide no assurances that any partnership or relationship will materialize, we are currently hosting their first generation prototype servers. We plan to provide updates on this initiative as it develops."

Last year, BTCS entered into a definitive merger agreement with Spondoolies-Tech Ltd., an Israel-based transaction verification server manufacturer, and received merger approval from the Israeli Office of Chief Scientist (OCS) in February. However, in a turn of events, Spondoolies announced earlier this month that it has ceased its operations.

Commenting on the matter, Allen said: "In regards to Spondoolies-Tech Ltd., we are actively exploring potential claims we may have from prior investments and we will pursue all options ahead of the July hearing."