MARA Holdings stock down 5% amid concerning Bitcoin production announcement
Bitcoin mining firm MARA Holdings, formerly known as Marathon Digital, reported a decline in Bitcoin production for February, down month-over-month due to higher network difficulty and fewer operational days.
MARA Digital‘s Bitcoin (BTC) production dropped 6% month-over-month in February due to higher network difficulty and fewer operational days, the company said.
In a Bitcoin production report released on March 4, the Florida-based company revealed a 4% increase in crypto production per day compared to January, although Bitcoin production decreased by 6% month-over-month. Despite the decline, MARA’s energized hashrate remained stable, the company emphasized.
“Blocks won and Bitcoin production decreased by 6% month-over-month, primarily due to a higher network difficulty level and three fewer operational days. Our energized hashrate was slightly above the prior month, and we are close to finishing construction of a 40-megawatt data center in Ohio where we plan to install over ten thousand S21 Pro immersion miners.”
Fred Thiel, Marathon Digital’s chairman and CEO
Long-term opportunities in AI
According to Thiel, the mining company aims to strengthen its position in the artificial intelligence space, which, as the Marathon’s CEO puts it, “will create additional revenue opportunities over the long term.”
“We expect our costs to decline as we realize savings from owning our sites and generating our own power, and we will be laser-focused on efficiency as we drive towards our goal of low-cost energy.” Fred Thiel
The rise in network difficulty has posed a challenge for miners since Bitcoin’s halving in April 2024, which slashed rewards per mining block from previously higher levels, making it harder to maintain production rates. With more competition on the network, fewer blocks are being won, which impacts production numbers.
MARA’s shares on pre-market trading plunged 5% following the production update, per data from Yahoo Finance. It’s unclear when exactly the new miners for the Ohio site will be fully deployed.
