As the first full week of August wraps up, publicly traded Bitcoin miners have released their monthly updates for July, revealing the ongoing challenges and successes in the industry. Since April’s Bitcoin halving event, which significantly reduced miners’ rewards, the industry has been under pressure to adapt to the new economic landscape.
Short-seller Kerrisdale Capital highlighted the increasing competition, particularly from international miners, in a June report, stating, “Competition abroad will only continue to intensify, and it strains credulity that US-listed companies…will be long-term low-cost producers and therefore market share winners in this extremely commodity industry.” This heightened competition has already led some companies, like Cipher Mining, to consider potential sales, as reported by Bloomberg last month.
Despite the challenges, some miners managed to post strong performance in July:
– Marathon Digital (MARA): As the largest public miner by market cap at approximately $5 billion, Marathon Digital saw a 17% increase in Bitcoin production month-over-month, mining 692 BTC in July. The company’s average operational hash rate grew by 5% to 27.5 exahashes per second (EH/s). As of July 31, Marathon held 20,818 Bitcoin and maintained its HODL strategy, refraining from selling any BTC and instead retaining all mined Bitcoin. The company also plans to make strategic open-market BTC purchases periodically.
– CleanSpark: CleanSpark mined 494 Bitcoin in July, marking a 10% increase from the previous month. The company also boosted its Bitcoin holdings by 567% compared to the same period last year, now holding 7,082 BTC. CleanSpark’s average hash rate throughout July was 20.07 EH/s, which translated to an average daily production of 15.94 Bitcoin.
– Riot Platforms: Riot Platforms saw a significant 45% increase in Bitcoin production from June, mining 370 BTC in July. The company also made a strategic acquisition, purchasing Block Mining, a Kentucky-based Bitcoin miner, for $92.5 million. This move is expected to further enhance Riot’s production capabilities.
– Core Scientific: Core Scientific produced 411 Bitcoin in July, down slightly from 430 in June, with a total hash rate of 20.1 EH/s. The company is planning to migrate Bitcoin miners from data centers designated for high-performance computing (HPC) hosting to Bitcoin mining centers to support its expanding HPC hosting business. Additionally, Core Scientific announced a deal with Block, Inc. (formerly Square) to supply the company with Block’s new 3-nanometer mining ASICs.
As these companies navigate the post-halving landscape, the differing strategies and results highlight the ongoing evolution and challenges within the Bitcoin mining industry. While some are expanding and acquiring new assets, others are exploring exits as they grapple with reduced revenues and intensified competition.