In December 2023, Marathon Digital Holdings, a Bitcoin mining company based in Florida, achieved a new production milestone by mining 1,853 Bitcoins. This figure represents a 56% increase from their November totals and a substantial 290% jump from December of the previous year. Marathon claimed this achievement to be the highest monthly Bitcoin production for a publicly traded company in the industry.
Previously, Core Scientific held the record for the most Bitcoins mined in a month, having produced 1,527 Bitcoins in January 2023. Marathon's recent performance exceeded Core Scientific's record by over 300 BTC. Marathon's Chairman and CEO, Fred Thiel, attributed this record-breaking output to an 18.4% increase in their hash rate, reaching 22.4 exahash per second.
On December 19, Marathon announced its plans to expand, investing $179 million in acquiring two new mining centers. This expansion is expected to add 390 megawatts to their already significant capacity of 584 megawatts. Thiel expressed the company's ambition to increase their active hashrate by 30% by 2024. He projected reaching 50 exahash in the next 18 to 24 months, following the acquisition from Generate Capital.
Marathon's impressive trading volume on December 28 briefly placed it at the top of the list for traded volume among large-cap U.S. stocks. Its trading volume peaked at an extraordinary $3.3 billion, surpassing major companies like Tesla, Apple, and Amazon for that day.
This surge in Marathon's performance coincides with an overall expansion trend in the Bitcoin mining industry. The sector is eagerly anticipating the potential approval of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds, expected as soon as January 8, and the upcoming Bitcoin halving in April. In a parallel development, Riot Platforms, another key player in the mining industry, acquired Bitcoin mining equipment worth $291 million on December 5, marking their largest hashrate increase to date.
