Texas Heat and Low Bitcoin Prices Hit Marathon's August Production

<p>The decline
in Bitcoin (BTC) prices in August and record-high temperatures in many parts of
the world have led publicly traded cryptocurrency miners to consider the past
month unsuccessful. One such company is Marathon Digital Holdings (NASDAQ:
MARA), which recently released its unaudited operational updates for August
2023. The report revealed a drop of 9% in Bitcoin production compared to the
previous month, mainly due to temporary shutdowns of mining operations in red-hot
Texas.</p><p>Marathon Digital Presents
a Mixed Bag of Results for August 2023</p><p>Marathon
produced 1,072 Bitcoin in August, marking a decrease of 9% from July. According to
Fred Thiel, Marathon's Chairman and CEO, the decline was mainly due to
"increased curtailment activity in Texas due to record high
temperatures." These temporary setbacks overshadowed the company's efforts
to boost its operational <a href="https://www.financemagnates.com/terms/h/hash-rate/">hash rate</a>.</p><p>However,
there is a significant increase in <a href="https://www.financemagnates.com/tag/crypto-mining/" target="_blank" rel="follow">crypto mining</a> compared to last year, partly due to
the greater amount of available computing power. In August 2022, the company's
average daily production was 5.9 BTC, and it has since increased 477% to
34.3 BTC per day.</p><p>The company
reported an increase of 2% month-over-month in its US operational hash rate, now at
19.1 exahashes. This growth is primarily attributed to replacing older BITMAIN
S19 J Pro miners with more efficient S19 XPs mining rigs. Marathon is also
awaiting the completion of paperwork for its new facility in Garden City,
Texas, which is expected to enhance its operational capabilities further.</p><p>"During
August, we reached our primary domestic growth target of 23 exahashes on an
installed basis, Thiel commented. "As we look to our next growth target, I
am pleased to announce that we have secured miners in the ordinary course of
business for the next 5 exahashes of hash rate growth."</p><blockquote><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%24MARA&amp;src=ctag&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">$MARA</a>'s August <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Bitcoin?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Bitcoin</a> Production Update is here:- Secured Miners for 5 EH/s Additional Hash Rate- Produced 1,072 BTC in August 2023 and 7,368 BTC Year-To-Date- Combined Unrestricted Cash and Bitcoin Was $445 Million as of August 31, 2023Read the full report:…</p>— Marathon Digital Holdings (NASDAQ: MARA) (@MarathonDH) <a href="https://twitter.com/MarathonDH/status/1699070385613131983?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 5, 2023</a></blockquote><p>Marathon's
joint venture in Abu Dhabi, initiated in July, produced 50 Bitcoin in August,
of which approximately 10 Bitcoin is Marathon's share. The operational hash
rate for this venture has reached 1.5 exahashes, with plans to scale up to 7.0
exahashes by the end of the year.</p><p>As of 31
August 2023, Marathon holds a total of 13,286 BTC, with 13,111 being
unrestricted. The company ended the month with $111.2 million in cash and cash
equivalents. The combined balance of unrestricted cash and Bitcoin increased to
$445.5 million, compared to $201.5 million during the same period last year.</p><p>Sudden Market Downturn Costs Crypto Miners
$2.8 Billion</p><p>Five major
cryptocurrency mining firms, including Marathon Digital, experienced <a href="https://www.financemagnates.com/cryptocurrency/bitcoin-miners-face-a-28-billion-nightmare-and-lowest-revenues-in-a-month/" target="_blank" rel="follow">a
collective loss of $2.8 billion</a> following a recent plunge in <a href="https://www.financemagnates.com/terms/b/bitcoin/">Bitcoin</a> and the
overall crypto market. Data from AltIndex reveals that the market
capitalization of these publicly traded mining companies shrank 30% in a
single month, plummeting from $9.5 billion to $6.7 billion. Concurrently, the
monthly revenue generated from mining activities reached new lows.</p><p>Key
industry players like Riot Platform and Marathon Digital Holdings were among
the hardest hit, with their market capitalizations declining $1.1 billion
(31%) and $800 million (25%), respectively. Other companies like <a href="https://www.financemagnates.com/cryptocurrency/canaan-breaks-record-in-mining-revenue-but-struggles-to-turn-a-profit/" target="_blank" rel="follow">Canaan</a>, Hut 8
Mining, and Cipher Mining Technologies also suffered significant market share
losses. </p><p>Glassnode's
recent data adds to the grim outlook, indicating that miners' revenues have
dipped to a monthly low of nearly $170 million. This downturn echoes a similar
event in 2022 that slashed their total <a href="https://www.financemagnates.com/cryptocurrency/why-bitcoin-miners-made-6-billion-less-in-2022/" target="_blank" rel="follow">revenue $6 billion</a>.</p><p>Despite the
industry's poor health, Marathon Digital's stock has surged 250% this year.
However, this upward trend stopped in July at around $20, and since then, the
stock price has declined approximately 40% to about $12.</p>

This article was written by Damian Chmiel at www.financemagnates.com.