Bitcoin (BTC) mining company Marathon Digital has reported a quarterly record 2,195 BTC mined during Q1 2023, with a current value of around $62 million.
Marathon reported on April 3 update that the 2,195 BTC mined represents a 74% increase over Q1 last year and a 41% increase over Q4 2022.
This is about the miner having increased its operational hash rate by 195% since Q1 2022.
Marathon also posted a monthly record 825 BTC mined in March, currently valued at around $23.3 million, and marked a 21% production increase since February.
$MARAThe March production update is here:
– Increase #Bitcoin Production 21% Monthly
– Produced a record 825 BTC in March 2023
– Produced a record 2195 BTC in Q1 2023
– Increased hash rate by 64% in Q1 ’23 (11.5 EH/s)
– Unrestricted cash and cash equivalents reported. of $124.9M
– Increase… pic.twitter.com/Jc1ACI2kY2— Marathon Digital Holdings (NASDAQ: MARA) (@MarathonDH) April 3, 2023
In a statement, CEO Fred Thiel said Marathon has made “remarkable progress” in executing on its two major initiatives by 2023: energizing its previously purchased mining rigs to hit 23 exhashes by the end of Q2 and optimizing performance.
The company is now exactly on target, having increased its operational hash rate from 7.0 exahashes on January 1 to 11.5 exahashes as of March 31.
Marathon management attributed the increased efficiency to bringing 25,900 Bitcoin miners based at various North Dakota facilities online, bringing its fleet to 105,200 mining rigs as of April 1.
Marathon explained that its operational improvements cleaned up part of its balance sheet by eliminating $50 billion in debt in addition to paying off its loan 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 lines with Silvergate Bank.”
The company ended the quarter with approximately $124.9 million in unrestricted cash and cash equivalents, and 11,466 BTC, which equates to more than $450 million.
Marathon noted that the figures have not been audited.
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Marathon expects the operational efficiencies to continue with the purchase of a new batch of Antminer S19 XPs Bitcoin mining rigs that are said to be almost 30% more efficient than the Antminer S19 Pro.
Once those miners are installed, about 66% of Marathon’s hash rate will come from S19 XPs, he said.
However, the design of the S19 XP has been criticized by Bitcoin mining company Compass Mining.
In a March report, the company identified “three flaws” of the new S19s that can cause the mining rig to overheat or, in some cases, shut down completely.
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