Bitcoin miners Marathon Digital and Riot Platforms reported their highest monthly production since the halving in April — signaling a strong rebound since miner rewards were halved.
Marathon produced 717 Bitcoin (BTC) worth $48.8 million in October, which the company attributed partially to its energized hashrate rising over 14% to surpass 40 exahashes per second, Marathon’s CEO Fred Thiel said in a Nov. 4 statement.
Higher transaction fees in October also boosted Marathon’s overall Bitcoin output, accounting for about 5% of the total production, Thiel said.
The firm said its mining pool, MARAPool, and private mempool Slipstream helped it earn $400,000 worth of Bitcoin from two high-fee transactions.
Marathon noted it achieved the milestone despite a 3% decline in block wins due to heightened network difficulty.
The news indicates Bitcoin mining heavyweights are rebounding from the April halving, which saw the Bitcoin block subsidy sliced from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC — significantly impacting miner revenue over the short term.
Similarly, Riot mined 505 Bitcoin worth $34.4 million in October, marking a 22.6% month-on-month increase.
Bitcoin miners are installed at Riot’s Corsicana facility in Texas. Source: Riot
The firm attributed the rise to its increased hashrate of 29.4 EH/s, up from 28.2 EH/s in September as the firm installed new MicroBT miners at its Corsicana facility.
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Despite the strong monthly statements, Marathon (MARA) and Riot (RIOT) shares tanked 3.79% and 4.87% on Nov. 4, Google Finance data shows.
Marathon and Riot stand firm with hashrate targets
Riot is targeting 34.9 EH/s before 2024’s end and 100 EH/s by 2027, which it anticipates could be reached should it fully exercise its option to purchase more MicroBTs in the future.
However, Riot’s 34.9 EH/s estimate fell from its initial 36.3 EH/s target due to slower-than-planned expansion at its recently acquired Kentucky facilities.
Meanwhile, Marathon said its hashrate target of 50 EH/s before 2025 is still “within sight.”
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