Marathon Digital posts quarterly record of 2,195 Bitcoin mined in Q1

Bitcoin (BTC) mining company Marathon Digital reported a quarterly record of 2,195 BTC mined during the first quarter of 2023, currently worth around $62 million.

Marathon explained in an April 3 update that the 2,195 BTC mined is a 74% increase from Q1 last year and a 41% increase from Q4 2022.

It comes on the back of the miner increasing its operational hash rate by 195% from Q1 2022.

Marathon also recorded a monthly record of 825 BTC mined in March – currently valued at around $23.3 million – marking a 21% increase in production from February.

In a statement, CEO Fred Thiel said Marathon made “remarkable progress” in executing its two main initiatives for 2023 – energizing its previously purchased mining rigs to reach 23 exahashes by the end of the second quarter and to optimize performance.

The firm 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’s management attributed the increase in efficiency to bringing online 25,900 Bitcoin miners based in various facilities in North Dakota, bringing the fleet to 105,200 mining rigs as of April 1.

Marathon explained that operational improvements cleaned up part of its balance sheet by wiping out $50 billion in debt in addition to repaying the loan to the now-failed Silvergate Bank:

“We reduced our debt by $50 million and increased our unlimited Bitcoin holdings by 3,132 Bitcoin after prepaying our loan and closing our credit facilities with Silvergate Bank.”

The firm ended the quarter with approximately $124.9 million in unrestricted cash and cash equivalents, and 11,466 BTC, which equates to over $450 million.

Marathon noted that the numbers have not been audited.

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Marathon expects operational efficiency to continue after purchasing a new batch of Antminer S19 XP’s Bitcoin mining rigs that are said to be nearly 30% more efficient than the Antminer S19 Pro.

Once these miners are installed, approximately 66% of Marathon’s hashrate will come from the S19 XPs, it said.

However, the design of S19 XPs has been criticized by fellow Bitcoin mining company Compass Mining.

In a March report, the firm identified “three faults” with the new S19s that can cause the mining rig to overheat, or in some cases shut down completely.

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