Analyst Warns of Banks’ Authority to Confiscate Funds, Decline of US Dollar Purchasing Power

February 9, 2023 Bitcoin.com

Bitcoin’s Average Transfer Fees Experience Sharp Increase: 122% Rise in 10 Days

February 8, 2023 Bitcoin.com

Massachusetts-Based Bankprov to End Loan Offerings Secured by Cryptocurrency Mining Rigs

January 31, 2023 Bitcoin.com

Crypto Regulation Is Like a Flimsy Umbrella in a Monsoon

January 25, 2023 Bitcoin.com

Coindesk Up for Sale? Investors Circle Crypto News Publication Amidst Genesis Bankruptcy

January 20, 2023 Bitcoin.com

Core Scientific shuts down 37K mining rigs it was hosting for Celsius

January 4, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Breach

Core Scientific estimates that canceling the agreement with Celsius will provide $2 million in revenue per month as long as Bitcoin stays around $16,700.

Bankrupt cryptocurrency lender Celsius Network has agreed to let Bitcoin (BTC) miner Core Scientific shut off more than 37,000 mining rigs it had been hosting for Celsius during the miner’s bankruptcy proceedings.

Core Scientific filed a revised proposed order on Jan. 3 that incorporated “revisions acceptable to Celsius” stating “all Celsius rigs will be powered down effective January 3, 2023 and will not be restarted during the transition period.”

On Oct. 19, Core Scientific accused Celsius of failing to pay its power bills, later citing the non-payment as a major factor in the liquidity issues that led to the Bitcoin miner filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Dec. 21.

On Dec. 28, Core Scientific filed a motion seeking approval to reject Celsius’ contracts, claiming the firm’s failure to pay its power bills constituted a material breach of contract.

According to the court filings, the termination of the agreement would apparently allow Core Scientific to generate a revenue of $2 million per month from the space currently occupied by Celsius’ mining rigs.

The hosting deal’s terms allowed Core Scientific to pass on some of the power costs to Celsius, and those costs have considerably increased since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

According to the rejection motion, covering the increased power fees cost Core Scientific almost $7.8 million as of Dec. 28 and the miner noted it “cannot afford to continue shouldering the burden of Celsius’ unpaid power costs.”

The cost of production has increased for miners while the price of Bitcoin has decreased, which has eaten into miners’ bottom line and contributed to the “hash price” — the revenue Bitcoin miners can earn per unit of hash rate — falling over 75% over 2022.

*Bitcoin Hashprice Index. Source: Luxor Technologies*

Miner’s lack of profitability combined with the costs associated with expansion efforts caused many Bitcoin miners to struggle toward the end of 2022 and share prices plummeted as a result.

Core Scientific has seen their share price fall by 99.15% over the course of the year, while Iris Energy and Riot Blockchain saw falls of 91.79% and 85.09%, respectively.

*Bitcoin miners’ stock performance. Source: Luxor Technologies*

Marathon is now the 2nd-largest listed holder of Bitcoin, says CEO

November 9, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

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:

- 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
— Marathon Digital Holdings (NASDAQ: MARA) (@MarathonDH) November 8, 2022

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.

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.

revenue