Marathon Digital Holdings, a bitcoin (BTC) mining company with operations in the United States and the United Arab Emirates, has revealed that its performance in June was mixed, partly because of bad weather. In the last month of H1 2023, the miner produced 979 BTC, marking a 21% decrease from May.
Bad weather in Texas, decreasing transaction fees
The decline in production was attributed to weather-related constraints in Texas and a significant reduction in bitcoin transaction fees in June.
Bitcoin miners depend not only on block rewards standing at 6.25 BTC dispensed roughly every 10 minutes for a confirmed block but also on transaction fees attached when a user transfers value. The higher the fee, the more the total rewards the miner receives.
Despite this contraction, Marathon achieved notable milestones in other operations. For instance, the report reveals that the miner posted a 16% month-over-month increase in its operational hash rate, reaching 17.7 EH/s. Moreover, the installed hash rate rose by 8% to 21.8 EH/s.
Notably, these improvements are a year before Bitcoin slashes mining rewards by half in 2023. Roughly every four years, the Bitcoin network automatically halves rewards, a development that not only makes bitcoin scarce but historically tends to support prices.
Besides capacity increment, Marathon also announced a new joint venture in Abu Dhabi, which commenced hashing activities earlier in the week. The miner added that activating the first containers at the Mina Zayed facility represents a critical step in their expansion efforts.
Miners selling bitcoin, effects of bad weather in Texas
As of July 1, Marathon held 12,538 BTC. However, the miner sold 700 BTC in June, revealing that they plan to sell a portion of their holdings over the coming months to support operations and manage their treasury.
At the same time, the liquidation will finance their other corporate purposes. Besides their bitcoin liquidation, as stated, financial records show that they held over $113 million in cash and cash equivalents.
Weather-related impact on bitcoin mining in Texas is well tabulated. In early February, Riot Platforms had to switch off over 17,000 rigs due to severe winter conditions. In July 2022, they also sold 700 BTC because of high cooling costs from heat waves.
