Marathon Digital CEO Fred Thiel says that anti-crypto politicians in the United States are going to run up against a key voting bloc. In a new interview with Scott Melker, the head of the crypto mining giant says that the Biden administration and other Democratic politicians have taken an anti-crypto stance in the aftermath of […]
The post Marathon Digital CEO Says Anti-Crypto Politicians Face Big Problem With Younger Demographics – Here’s Why appeared first on The Daily Hodl.
According to a recent filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Bitdeer Technologies Holdings, a digital mining firm founded by crypto-billionaire Jihan Wu in 2018, plans to be listed on Nasdaq this Friday. The bitcoin mining firm is scheduled to go public through a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) deal with Blue Safari […]
With a new quarterly production record, Marathon Digital is now on track to meet its mid-year target of 23 exahashes.
Bitcoin (BTC) mining firm Marathon Digital has reported a quarterly record of 2,195 BTC mined over the first quarter of 2023, currently worth around $62 million.
Marathon reported in an April 3 update that the 2,195 mined BTC is a 74% increase from the first quarter of last year and a 41% increase from Q4 2022.
It comes on the back of the miner increasing its operational hash rate by 195% from Q1 2022.
Marathon also recorded a monthly record of 825 BTC mined in March — currently valued at around $23.3 million — and marked a 21% production increase from February.
$MARA's March Production Update is here:
— Marathon Digital Holdings (NASDAQ: MARA) (@MarathonDH) April 3, 2023
- Increased #Bitcoin Production 21% MoM
- Produced a Record 825 BTC in March ’23
- Produced a Record 2,195 BTC in Q1 ’23
- Increased Hash Rate 64% in Q1 ’23 (11.5 EH/s)
- Reported Unrestricted Cash and Cash Equiv. of $124.9M
- Increased… pic.twitter.com/Jc1ACI2kY2
In a statement, CEO Fred Thiel said Marathon made “notable progress” on executing its two primary initiatives for 2023 — to energize its previously purchased mining rigs to reach 23 exahashes by the end of the second quarter and to optimize performance.
The firm is now exactly on target, having increased its operational hash rate from 7.0 exahashes on Jan. 1 to 11.5 exahashes as of March 31.
Marathon’s management attributed the increase in efficiency to it bringing online 25,900 Bitcoin miners based in various facilities in North Dakota, bringing its fleet to 105,200 mining rigs as of April 1.
Marathon explained its operational improvements cleaned up part of its balance sheet by wiping out $50 billion in debt in addition to repaying its loan back to the now-failed Silvergate Bank:
“We reduced our debt by $50 million and increased our unrestricted Bitcoin holdings by 3,132 Bitcoin after we prepaid our term loan and terminated our credit facilities with Silvergate Bank.”
The firm finished the quarter with approximately $124.9 million in unrestricted cash and cash equivalents, and 11,466 BTC, which equates to over $450 million.
Marathon noted the figures have not been audited.
Related: Bitcoin ASIC miner prices hovering at lows not seen in years
Marathon expects operational efficiencies to continue having purchased a new batch of Antminer S19 XPs Bitcoin mining rigs that are said to be nearly 30% more efficient than the Antminer S19 Pro.
Once those miners are installed approximately 66% of Marathon’s hash rate will come from the S19 XPs, it said.
The design of S19 XPs has, however, been criticized by fellow Bitcoin mining firm Compass Mining.
In a March report the firm identified “three flaws” of the new S19s which may result in the mining rig overheating, or in some cases, shutting down completely.
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The decision to end its loan facilities with Silvergate Bank follows a shift in Marathon’s long-term financial strategy to build liquidity.
Bitcoin mining firm Marathon Digital has paid off its term loan and terminated its credit facilities with crypto-friendly Silvergate Bank, just as the bank announced it will be winding down operations.
Marathon announced on Mar. 8 that it had prepaid its outstanding loan balance earlier that day, and would be terminating the revolving line of credit facility between the firms after providing Silvergate Bank with the required 30-day notice in early February.
Marathon Digital Holdings has repaid its term loan and terminated its credit facilities with Silvergate Bank, reducing Marathon’s debt by $50 million and increasing the Company’s unrestricted bitcoin holdings by 3,132 BTC. Read our full update here: https://t.co/tihTTagfhR
— Marathon Digital Holdings (NASDAQ: MARA) (@MarathonDH) March 8, 2023
The announcement from Marathon came less than an hour after Silvergate Bank’s holding company — Silvergate Capital Corporation — announced it would be voluntarily liquidating the bank and winding down operations “in light of recent industry and regulatory developments.”
Cointelegraph reached out to Marathon Digital to understand whether the timing of the announcement had anything to do with the bank's most recent development.
In an emailed response, Marathon’s vice president of corporate communications Charlie Schumacher said the decision to cut financial ties with Silvergate was "predominantly part of our financial strategy."
In the announcement, Marathon said the move will free up the 3,132 Bitcoin (BTC) — worth over $68 million at the time of writing — held as collateral for the loan. This would eliminate $50 million worth of debt and reduce its annual borrowing costs by $5 million, it said.
Marathon’s chief financial officer Hugh Gallagher noted that the crypto “industry has significantly changed” since the firm had opened the lending facilities with Silvergate Bank last summer, adding:
“We have been actively building a more robust balance sheet that features increased levels of cash and unrestricted bitcoin holdings. Given our current cash position, we determined that it was in the Company’s best interest to prepay our term loan and eliminate both the term loan and RLOC facilities.”
According to a prior filing, Marathon secured the $100 million revolving credit facility with Silvergate Bank in October, 2021 and intended to use it to purchase Bitcoin mining equipment and fund its mining operations.
Related: Impact of the Silvergate collapse on crypto — Watch The Market Report live
Last month, Schumacher suggested the firm is looking to build a “war chest” of liquidity, composed of both cash and Bitcoin, and is looking to continue paying down debt whilst increasing its cash positions.
The comments came on Feb. 3, following reports that the firm had sold Bitcoin for the first time since 2020.
Marathon is the second-biggest publicly listed holder of Bitcoin according to CoinGecko, beaten only by software analytics company MicroStrategy.
The Bitcoin miner received a letter from the Securities and Exchange Commission highlighting accounting mistakes it made on multiple financial disclosures.
Bitcoin (BTC) miner Marathon Digital will reissue a number of previous financial statements after the United States Securities and Exchange Commission pointed out some accounting errors the firm made.
According to a Feb. 27 SEC filing, Marathon will restate its unaudited Q1, Q2, and Q3 quarterly reports from both 2021 and 2022 in addition to its audited annual report from 2021.
Marathon noted that affected financial statements, related earnings releases and other financial communications during these periods “should not be relied upon.”
The issues highlighted by the SEC on Feb. 22 were Marathon’s method for calculating impairment on digital assets, as well as Marathon’s determination that it had acted as an agent while operating a Bitcoin mining pool rather than a principal.
A principal is an entity that has the legal authority for decisions, while an agent is an entity that can only act on behalf of a principal.
Marathon noted that by changing the determination of its role in operating the pool from an agent to a principal, revenues and cost of revenues will see minor increases but does not believe the change will impact its bottom line.
“The restatement of the Impacted Financial Statements is not expected to have any impact on total margin, operating income or net income in 2021 or in any of the interim periods in 2021 or 2022.”
As a result of the accounting issues, Marathon postponed its fourth-quarter 2022 earnings call, which was set to take place on Feb. 28, and will postpone the publication of its corresponding financial results.
Today, we announced that we are cancelling our webcast and conference call for Q4 & FY 2022, initially scheduled for today at 4:30 p.m. ET, and are postponing the publication of our corresponding financial results. For more, please see this press release: https://t.co/UAryIr56aC
— Marathon Digital Holdings (NASDAQ: MARA) (@MarathonDH) February 28, 2023
Marathon intends to file its results for 2022 by March 16. It has notified the SEC it would take up to 15 days to make the necessary corrections to the report, which was previously due by March 1.
Related: Robinhood subpoenaed by SEC over crypto listings and custody
The miner announced on Feb. 2 that it had sold 1,500 BTC throughout January, marking the first time it had sold Bitcoin since Oct. 1, 2020, as it looks to build up a “war chest” of both cash and Bitcoin and ensure it can be flexible throughout 2023.
While 2022 proved to be a tough year for Bitcoin miners — leading to the capitulation of firms such as Core Scientific in December — an increasing BTC price and stable electricity prices have helped the industry rebound strongly so far in 2023, with production and hash rates generally up across the board.
A company spokesman says the second-biggest publicly listed holder of BTC wants to have a “war chest” of liquidity composed of both cash and Bitcoin.
The second largest publicly-listed holder of Bitcoin, crypto mining firm Marathon Digital Holdings has offloaded some of its Bitcoin (BTC) for the first time in two years.
A spokesman told Cointelegraph this was not a result of financial distress.
According to an update posted on Feb. 2, the company disclosed that during January it sold 1,500 BTC, worth $35.3 million at current prices.
While some crypto miners have been forced to sell Bitcoin due to distress, Marathon vice president of corporate communications Charlie Schumacher said this was not the case for Marathon.
Schumacher said that Marathon had been diamond-handing its Bitcoin until now, as the firm didn’t want to sell while production was down, and has been bullish on the long-term prospects of the leading cryptocurrency.
But coming into the new year, Marathon wants to have a “war-chest” of liquidity composed of both cash and Bitcoin and is looking to continue paying down debt and increase its cash positions.
Schumacher also noted that Bitcoin’s recent uptick in price contributed to the decision to sell some of its holdings.
January saw Bitcoin rise above the $24,000 price level for the first time since August.
Even after the sale, Marathon managed to increase its unrestricted Bitcoin holdings in the month to 8,090 BTC ($189.8 million).
Marathon said it also had significantly ramped up Bitcoin production throughout January, producing 687 BTC, which represents an increase of 45% compared to the month prior. In the update, Marathon chairman and CEO Fred Thiel noted:
“The improvement in our bitcoin production was primarily a result of our team’s ability to work in tandem with the new hosting provider in McCamey, Texas, to address the maintenance and technical issues at the King Mountain data center that had suppressed our bitcoin production in the fourth quarter of 2022."
Last year, Marathon noted in a May 4 update that the last time it had sold any Bitcoin was on Oct. 21, 2020, and has been hodling since then.
When asked how it had managed to avoid selling the main product of its business operations, Schumacher pointed to the firm’s low headcount, consisting of “32 people as of today,” and suggested it was a result of sound long-term financial strategies.
Related: Bitcoin price is up, but BTC mining stocks could remain vulnerable throughout 2023
Marathon is the second-biggest publicly listed holder of Bitcoin according to CoinGecko, beaten only by software analytics company MicroStrategy. It has recorded a significant boost in its share price in recent days, with MARA stock rising 135% so far this year to $8, according to MarketWatch.
Crypto-related stocks, ETFs and tokens have all surged in price so far in 2023 despite experts expecting the Federal Reserve to continue hiking interest rates.
The share price of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has surged by 69% since its all time lows and other crypto-related stocks including business intelligence firm MicroStrategy have recorded similar jumps with green candles all around since the start of 2023.
The share price of Coinbase fell as low as $31.95 on Jan. 6, before shooting up to $54.14 by the close of trading on Jan. 17.
The rising share price will likely be accompanied by a huge sigh of relief for Coinbase executives after a challenging 2022 saw it cut 20% of its workforce and decide to wind down its Japanese operations. Despite the surge, COIN remains more than 84% below its all time high.
Other crypto-related stocks such as MicroStrategy and digital payments company Block Inc. have also posted strong gains in the new year.
MicroStrategy's share price has increased to nearly $236 from a low of just over $135 on Dec. 29 — representing an increase of over 74% — while Jack Dorsey’s Block has seen its share price increase by a muted but still respectable 27%, after rebounding from a low of under $59 on Dec. 28 to over $75.
The rebound has been even more dramatic for crypto mining stocks. Bitfarms and Marathon Digital Holdings recorded surges of 140% and 120% respectively throughout the first two weeks of the year.
Crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) also rebounded to a lesser degree with Valkyrie Bitcoin Miners ETF (WGMI) more than doubling its price from a low of just over $4 on Dec. 28 to over $8.
The ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO) jumped from over $10 on Dec. 28 to a current price of around $13 — increasing by just under a third.
Related: Is this a bull run or a bull trap? Watch The Market Report live
Even Grayscale Bitcoin Trust has managed to regain some of its 2022 losses, after increasing from a low of $7.76 on Dec. 28 to a current price of $11.72, a 51% increase.
While the trust is designed to mirror the price of Bitcoin (BTC) it often trades at a discount or premium to the value of its underlying holdings and is now sitting at a discount of just over 36% after having traded at over a 45% discount on Dec. 28.
Some pundits believe Bitcoin in particular has skyrocketed on the back of the positive inflation figures from the United States released on Jan. 12 — having increased in price by over 17% since then — but it is interesting to note that Dec. 28 seemed to represent a market bottom across many cryptocurrencies and stocks.
Total #crypto market cap is back over 1 trillion dollars!!! pic.twitter.com/wS4N9qjA4G
— Lark Davis (@TheCryptoLark) January 17, 2023
While the recent surge in crypto-related stocks is bound to be a huge relief to those who have invested in them, it is worth noting that many of these companies have a long way to go to return to thier all-time highs, as highlighted by a Jan. 10 tweet from financial advisor Genevieve Roch-Decter.
Crypto stocks over the last year:
— Genevieve Roch-Decter, CFA (@GRDecter) January 10, 2023
Voyager -99.7%
Silvergate -90.8%
Marathon Digital -83.1%
Coinbase -82.3%
HIVE Blockchain -81.3%
MicroStrategy -63.9%
ASIC miners' price per terahash has fallen more than 80% from its peak in 2021 as Bitcoin mining machines continue to flood the marketplace.
Bitcoin ASIC miners — machines optimized for the sole purpose of mining Bitcoin — are currently selling at bottom-of-the-barrel prices not seen since 2020 and 2021, in what is being viewed as another sign of a deepened crypto bear market.
According to the latest data from Hashrate Index, the most efficient ASIC miners, those generating at least one terahash per 38 joules of energy, have seen their prices fall 86.82% from May. 7, 2021 peak of $119.25 per terahash down to $15.71 as of Dec. 25.
Miners in these category include Bitmain’s Antminer S19 and MicroBTC’s Whatsminer M30s.
The same statement holds true for the mid-tier machines, with prices now averaged out at $10.23 after falling a massive 89.36% from its peak price of $96.24 on May. 7, 2021.
However, the least efficient machines, ones that require more than 68 Joules per TH, are now priced at $4.72, a 91% drop from its peak price of $52.85. The last time it was priced near this was around Nov. 5, 2020.
The fall in prices has largely been attributed to large Bitcoin mining companies that have struggled to remain profitable throughout the bear market, with many either filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, taking on debt, or selling their BTC holdings and equipment in order to stay afloat.
Among the firms to have done that include Core Scientific, Marathon Digital, Riot Blockchain, Bitfarms and Argo Blockchain.
Related: Bitcoin miner outflow ratio hits 6-month high in new threat to BTC price
But the steep price fall has been met with some keen buyers. Among those include many Russian-based mining facilities like BitRiver who are able to capitalize on relatively low electricity costs, with some up-to-date hardware capable of mining one Bitcoin (BTC) at about $0.07 per kilowatt-hour in the energy-rich nation.
While it’s hard to predict what price direction ASIC miners will head toward next, Nico Smid of Digital Mining Solutions pointed out in a Dec. 21 tweet that ASIC miner prices bottomed at Bitcoin’s last halving cycle in May. 11, 2020 and moved up aggressively shortly after — something which could play out in Bitcoin’s next halving cycle which is expected to take place on Apr. 20, 2024.
The United States-listed Bitcoin miner has produced at least 1,231 Bitcoin since the start of July and has sold none of it to date.
Bitcoin (BTC) mining company Marathon Digital Holdings is now understood to be the second-largest holder of Bitcoin in the world among publicly-listed companies.
During the company’s third-quarter earnings call on Nov. 8, Marathon Digital CEO Fred Thiel revealed the company now holds 11,300 Bitcoin — worth around $205 million — “making Marathon the second largest holder of Bitcoin among publicly traded companies worldwide, ” referring to unnamed third-party data.
According to CoinGecko, the NASDAQ-listed crypto miner is ranked second only to MicroStrategy Inc., which holds nearly 130,000 total Bitcoin. It's followed by crypto exchange Coinbase and Jack Dorsey-founded payments company Block Inc.
The company reported its third-quarter earnings on Nov. 8, noting that it added 616 Bitcoin to its holdings in the quarter, while another 615 Bitcoin was added in the month of October alone — the most productive month in the company’s history.
.@fgthiel: "We have sequentially improved our bitcoin production, from 72 bitcoin in July, to 184 in August, then to 360 in September, and then to a record 615 in October. October was the most productive month in our Company’s history..." pic.twitter.com/wsfv0XOIuV
— Marathon Digital Holdings (NASDAQ: MARA) (@MarathonDH) November 8, 2022
“The consistent improvement in our Bitcoin production is the direct result of increasing our hash rates by bringing more Bitcoin servers online and improving those servers,” said Thiel during the conference call.
The Marathon Digital CEO also confirmed that to date, the company still has not sold any of its Bitcoin, and will continue to take that position unless deemed “necessary to cover operating expenses or other expenses.”
This differs from other major miners such as Argo, Bitfarms, Core Scientific, and Riot Blockchain, all of whom had reported selling coins in order to pay the bills.
Thiel also used the call to make mention the “battle” between Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao and Sam Bankman-Fried — which he says is causing “turmoil” for the price of Bitcoin but said it would likely come back to a range of around $18,000 to $20,000, which they “feel very comfortable” in.
The Bitcoin miner’s earnings however took a beating in the third quarter, with its net loss nearly tripling compared to the prior year, reaching $75.4 million, while revenue fell 75.5% year-on-year to $12.7 billion.
$MARA's Q3 22 financial results are out:
— Marathon Digital Holdings (NASDAQ: MARA) (@MarathonDH) November 8, 2022
- Consistent improvement in #BTC production
- Increased hash rate 84% from Sept. 30 to Nov. 1
- 69,000 active servers as of Nov. 1
- Increased YTD #BTC production 27% YoY as of Oct. 31https://t.co/2X1Yn6wnGv
Both metrics failed to meet analysts’ expectations as the miner’s exit from its Montana facility and falling Bitcoin prices led to lower BTC production in the quarter.
Thiel called the third quarter a period of “transition and rebuilding” after its exit from Hardin and it begins out capabilities in new locations, including the King Mountain wind farm in Texas.
Related: Bitcoin miner Iris Energy faces $103M default claim from creditors
On Nov. 7, rival Bitcoin mining firm Riot Blockchain also reported third-quarter earnings which had missed analyst expectations.
The firm’s total revenue declined 28.5% in the third quarter while its net loss widened 139.2% due to “significant curtailment activities” relating to its activities in Texas, and a significant decrease in the market price of Bitcoin compared to a year ago.
Both Riot Blockchain and Marathon Digital’s stock prices have declined over the past five days, with Riot Blockchain’s stocks down 17.62% and Marathon Digital's down 18.02% in the past five days, according to Google Finance.
Bitcoin mining firm Compute North filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Texas on Thursday as the crypto winter continues to put pressure on crypto mining operations. The bankruptcy petition filed on September 22, indicates the company looks to stabilize operations in order to repay creditors. Compute North Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection Five […]