Blockchain
Marathon Digital Increases Bitcoin Production 21% YoY in April and Resists Halving Challenges
Digital marathon has seen a significant increase year after year Bitcoin production last month, defying expectations for the halving.
Increase in Bitcoin production
In its operational April relationship, Marathon revealed that it produced 850 BTC, marking a notable increase of 21% on year-over-year metrics. This increase is mainly attributed to the 15% increase its operational hashratenow stuck at 21.1 exahash.
The launch of the Runes protocol and the Bitcoin halving event, which reduced miner rewards to 3,125 BTC per block, will have had a marginal impact on the data, less than a month after the events.
Nonetheless, Marathon’s hash rate improvement allowed it to capitalize on the higher transaction fees inspired by the Rune Protocol. Transaction fees contributed about 16% of Bitcoin’s gains in April.
Fred Thiel, president and CEO of Marathon, said:
“In April we reached an all-time high operational hash rate of 25.9 exahash. Transaction fees also reached all-time highs during the Halving, which we were able to capitalize on with our Slipstream service and our proprietary mining pool. Just before the Halving, we earned another 4.25 BTC from Slipstream alone and MARA Pool outperformed, capturing one block with 10 BTC and another with 16 BTC in transaction fees.”
Meanwhile, Marathon said it sold 600 BTC in April to support monthly operations, manage its treasury, and for general corporate purposes. As of April 30, the miner held 17,631 Bitcoins without restrictions.
Consultant to the Government of Kenya
In parallel, Kenyan President Williams Ruto spoke at the AMCHAM summit and revealed ongoing discussions between the African country and cryptocurrency miners on cryptocurrency regulation and mining.
Ruto said:
“Marathon Digital has been appointed to consult with the National Treasury of Kenya on our cryptocurrency regime and with the Ministry of Energy to discuss its energy needs in relation to cryptocurrency mining here in Kenya.”
Even the company confirmed this development, adding that his team is discussing how its digital asset data centers “can spur energy development in the region and promote U.S.-East Africa trade relations.”