Marathon’s monthly BTC production hits new peak, far ahead of competitors

The company’s December total surpasses the previous public miner high set by Core Scientific in 2023, BlocksBridge Consulting founder says

by Ben Strack /

January 4, 2024 10:51 am

Artie Medvedev/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

Marathon Digital grew its hash rate by 4% in December and mined more bitcoin than it has in any single month prior.

The Florida-based firm mined 1,853 bitcoin (BTC) last month, up from 1,187 BTC in November. It opted to sell 704 bitcoins — roughly 38% of the December production — to cover operating expenses.

“We believe this to be the highest monthly total ever recorded by a public bitcoin mining company,” Marathon said in a Thursday news release.

BlocksBridge Consulting founder Nishant Sharma told Blockworks Marathon’s December bitcoin production surpasses a public miner record previously held by Core Scientific: 1,527 BTC, generated in January 2023.

The total significantly surpasses the number of bitcoins produced by competitors CleanSpark and Riot Platforms, which in December mined 720 BTC and 619 BTC, respectively.

Core Scientific, which mined 954 BTC in November, had not released its December production numbers as of Thursday morning.

The feat comes as Marathon, and industry companies continue to prioritize growth ahead of the next bitcoin halving slated for April — when per-block BTC rewards drop from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC.

Marathon Digital upped its energized hash rate to 24.7 exahashes per second (EH/s) in December. Core Scientific has been second in that category among public mining firms, sporting an energized hash rate of 21.6 EH/s as of Nov. 30.

Beyond growing hash rate, Marathon has expanded to other parts of the world, such as Abu Dhabi and Paraguay, as part of a broader effort to reduce costs.

Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter.

Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin. Subscribe to the On the Margin newsletter.

The Lightspeed newsletter is all things Solana, in your inbox, every day. Subscribe to daily Solana news from Jack Kubinec and Jeff Albus.

Tags

Newsletter

Blockworks Daily

Upcoming Events

Permissionless III Hackathon

Salt Lake City, UT

MON - TUES, OCT. 7 - 8, 2024

Blockworks and Bankless in collaboration with buidlbox are excited to announce the second installment of the Permissionless Hackathon – taking place October 7-8 in Salt Lake City, Utah. We’ve partnered with buidlbox to bring together the brightest minds in crypto for […]

learn more

Permissionless III

Salt Lake City, UT

WED - FRI, OCTOBER 9 - 11, 2024

Permissionless is a conference for founders, application developers, and users. Come meet the next generation of people building and using crypto.

learn more

recent research

Research

Why Solana Mobile Should 100x Their Phone Production

Solana Mobile is a highly ambitious foray into the mobile consumer hardware market, seeking to open up a crypto-native distribution channel for mobile-first applications. The market for Solana Mobile devices has demonstrated a phenomenon whereby external market actors (e.g. Solana-native projects) continuously underwrite subsidies to Mobile consumers. The value of these subsidies, coming in the form of airdrops, trial programs, and exclusive NFT mints, have consistently covered the cost of the phone and generated positive returns for consumers. Given this trend in subsidies, the unit economics in the market for Mobile devices, and the initial growth rate and trajectory of sales, it should be expected that Solana mobile can clear 1M to 10M units over the coming years. As more devices circulate amongst users, Solana Mobile presents a promising venue for the emergence of killer-applications uniquely enabled by this mobile-first, crypto-native distribution channel.

by Luke Leasure