Marathon Digital boosts Bitcoin production by 21% YoY in April, defies halving challenges

Marathon
Digital
reported
a
significant
year-on-year
surge
in
its

Bitcoin
production
last
month,
defying
expectations
surrounding
the
halving
event.

Bitcoin
production
increase

In
its
April
operational

report,
Marathon
revealed
that
it
produced
850
BTC,
marking
a
notable
21%
increase
on
the
year-on-year
metrics.
This
uptick
is
primarily
attributed
to
the
15%

boost
in
its
operational
hashrate,
now
standing
at
21.1
exahash.

The
launch
of
the
Runes
Protocol
and
the
Bitcoin
halving
event,
which
reduced
miners’
rewards
to
3.125
BTC
per
block,
will
have
had
a
marginal
impact
on
the
data,
with
less
than
one
month
since
the
events.

Nonetheless,
Marathon’s
improved
hash
rate
enabled
it
to
capitalize
on
the
increased
transaction
fees
inspired
by
the

Runes
Protocol.
Transaction
fees
contributed
approximately
16%
to
the
Bitcoin
earnings
in
April.

Fred
Thiel,
Marathon’s
chairman
and
CEO,
said:

“In
April,
we
achieved
an
all
time
operating
hash
rate
high
of
25.9
exahash.
Transaction
fees
also
reached
all
time
highs
around
the
Halving,
which
we
were
able
to
capitalize
on
with
our
Slipstream
service
and
our
proprietary
mining
pool.
Just
before
the
Halving,
we
earned
an
additional
4.25
BTC
from
Slipstream
alone,
and
MARA
Pool
outperformed,
capturing
one
block
with
10
BTC
and
another
with
16
BTC
in
transaction
fees.”

Meanwhile,
Marathon
said
it
sold
600
BTC
in
April
to
support
monthly
operations,
manage
its
treasury,
and
for
general
corporate
purposes.
The
miner
held
17,631
unrestricted
Bitcoin
as
of
April
30.

Consultant
to
Kenya
government

In
a
parallel
development,
Kenya’s
president,
Williams
Ruto,
spoke
at
the
AMCHAM
summit
and
revealed
ongoing
discussions
between
the
African
country
and
the
crypto
miners
about
crypto
regulations
and
mining.

Ruto
said:

“Marathon
Digital
has
been
ushered
to
consult
with
the
National
Treasury
Kenya
on
our
cryptocurrency
regime
and
to
the
Ministry
of
Energy
to
discuss
its
energy
needs
in
connection
with
cryptocurrency
mining
here
in
Kenya.”

The
firm
also

confirmed
this
development,
adding
that
its
team
is
discussing
how
its
digital
asset
data
centers
“can
spur
energy
development
in
the
region
and
foster
US-East
Africa
trade
relations.”

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in
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article