Marathon Digital’s Bitcoin Production Plummets by 42% in January

At the beginning of February, mining companies reported their performance results for the past month. ForkLog compiled the key figures in one article.

Marathon Digital Holdings

In January, Marathon Digital Holdings produced 1084 BTC — a 42% decrease compared to the previous month.

According to the press release, the hash rate increased by 7% to 26.4 EH/s. However, the average operational rate in January fell by 14% to 19.3 EH/s. The company’s head, Fred Thiel, attributed this to weather-related factors and equipment failures.

“Our team is addressing short-term disruptions and working to restore the facilities’ operations. We expect the hash rate to improve over the next few weeks,” he noted.

Thiel added that Marathon Digital Holdings, together with its partner, completed the construction of a facility in Abu Dhabi and continued the project in Paraguay. 

“After closing the acquisition of data centers in Granbury, Texas, and Kearney, Nebraska, in January, we announced that we are ceasing Hut 8’s operations as the operator of these facilities and intend to take full operational control by April 30,” emphasized the firm’s CEO.

As of January 31, 2024, Marathon held 15,741 BTC. Instead of selling the primary cryptocurrency, the firm acquired 183.5 BTC at an average price of $39,738. However, Marathon stated its intention to sell part of its digital gold assets in the future “to support monthly operations, treasury management, and general corporate purposes.”

Earlier, Thiel suggested that by the end of 2025, Bitcoin could reach a new high of $125,000, with its price fluctuations becoming “more stable.”

Argo Blockchain

In the first month of 2024, Argo Blockchain generated 124 BTC (4 BTC per day). This figure is 20% lower than in December, which the company attributed to reduced transaction fees in the network, increased difficulty, and other factors.

“Bitcoin production […] was negatively impacted by weather-related reductions at facilities in Quebec and Helios in Texas,” the press release stated.

Revenue amounted to $5.3 million — 19% less than the previous figure. As of January 31, the company held 18 BTC.

In mid-January, the total computational power of the Bitcoin network dropped by 33% over a few days amid cold weather in Texas, which led to local miners being disconnected from the power grid.

Riot Platforms

Riot Platforms (formerly Riot Blockchain) mined 520 BTC. This figure is 16% lower than December and 30% lower than January 2023.

The company holds 7,648 BTC, having sold 212 BTC last month. Net revenue amounted to $9.5 million (at an average price of $44,860 per coin). By the end of the month, the hash rate was estimated at 12.4 EH/s.

Riot Platforms received an amount equivalent to 77 BTC in credits for responding to the electricity demand and supply ratio from the local operator ERCOT.

“As we approach the halving […] Riot also intends to take advantage of the opportunity to acquire bitcoins at a significant discount to their current market price, retaining a larger share of monthly production in the near future,” stated the company’s CEO, Jason Les.

Riot reminded of the development of a facility in Corsicana, Texas. It is expected that its initial capacity will be 400 MW, reaching up to 1 GW after the enterprise is operational.

By the end of 2024, Riot expects the total hash rate to reach 29 EH/s.

HIVE Blockchain

HIVE Blockchain Technologies produced 234.6 BTC in January (an average of 7.6 BTC per day). By the end of the month, the mining company held 1,939 BTC — a 14% increase from December 2023.

The hash rate was 3.88 EH/s, including the capacity of the GPU fleet. This figure was 5.6% lower than the previous period, which the firm attributed to cold weather at the data center locations (Sweden, Iceland, and Canada). 

“We are pleased to announce that we have received and installed our January batch of Antminers S21 […]. Each of these miners has a performance of 200 TH/s and an efficiency of 17.5 J/TH. […] HIVE purchased 7,000 such machines, which will collectively provide our fleet with a highly efficient mining capacity of 1.4 EH/s,” stated HIVE President Aydin Kilic.

Bitfarms

In January, Bitfarms mined 357 BTC compared to 446 BTC in December 2023. By the end of the month, the hash rate was 6.5 EH/s.

“Production in January […] decreased by 20% compared to December, as powerful winter storms across North America led to significant reductions in power consumption, which is part of grid stability programs in Quebec, and offset a 2.3% decrease in network difficulty in January,” Bitfarms clarified.

The company sold all the coins mined during the month, receiving $15.3 million. The number of bitcoins held is 804 (approximately $34.6 million as of January 31).

Bitfarms reduced its total outstanding debt by $2 million, with a remaining balance of $2 million at the end of the month. The miner plans to pay this amount by February.

The company also added that in 2024 it will begin implementing a plan to increase the hash rate: to 12 EH/s in the first half of the year and 21 EH/s in the second half. 

Hut 8 Mining

In January, Hut 8 Mining mined 339 BTC compared to 453 BTC in December. By the end of the month, the firm held 9,116 BTC.

The total hash rate under management was 22.3 EH/s.

“In January, we experienced unusually harsh weather conditions in both Texas and Alberta [Canada], and temporarily shut off electricity to help maintain the power grid. Additionally, we signed a four-year agreement with Ionic Digital, […] and hope to eventually add more than 12 EH/s of capacity and 300 MW of infrastructure to our managed services business, starting in February,” noted Hut 8 President Asher Genut.

The company added that it will receive $13.6 million for terminating the managed services agreement for Granbury and Kearney.

Additionally, due to preventive maintenance of equipment, Hut 8 temporarily shut down some devices during January.

Bit Digital

Listed on Nasdaq, Bit Digital mined 145.7 BTC in January — 14% less than in December. 

As of the end of the month, the firm’s hash rate was approximately 2.5 EH/s. 

Bit Digital’s treasury reserves in the first and second cryptocurrencies were valued at 739.2 BTC and 18,072.2 ETH, with a fair market value of approximately $31.4 million and $41.3 million respectively (as of January 31). The company’s cash and cash equivalents amounted to $22.6 million.

Stock performance of mining companies over the past five days:

• Marathon Digital Holdings (MARA): +20.29%;
• Argo Blockchain (ARBK): +8.74%;
• Riot Blockchain (RIOT): +18.64%;
• Hut 8 Corp. (HUT): +2.54%;
• HIVE Blockchain (HIVE): +8.23%;
• Bitfarms (BITF): +11.5%;
• Bit Digital (BTBT): +4.58%.

Previously, the company Swan Bitcoin, focused on Bitcoin-related financial services, reported that its mining enterprise, launched quietly in the summer of 2023, mined 750 BTC.

Core Scientific, which was undergoing bankruptcy proceedings, generated 19,274 BTC over the past year. According to the statement, this volume of cryptocurrency production makes the company the largest publicly traded representative of the industry in North America.

In February, analysts at CryptoQuant noted a decline in Bitcoin miners’ reserves to the level of July 2021.