Bitcoin mining firm Marathon orders nearly $900 million worth of new machines

Quick Take

  • Nasdaq-listed Marathon has ordered bitcoin mining machines worth nearly $900 million from Bitmain.
  • The deal is expected to increase Marathon’s hash rate to 23.3 EH/s by early 2023.

Marathon Digital Holdings, a Nasdaq-listed bitcoin mining company based in Las Vegas, has ordered new machines worth $879.06 million.

The order was announced last week, but its purchase price has been disclosed on Tuesday. The order includes 78,000 units of Bitmain's Antminer S-19 XP mining machines, to be delivered through 2022.

The dispatch is divided into six batches, with 13,000 units to be delivered each month from July to December 2022.

Marathon will pay Bitmain in batches as well. "35% of the total amount within two days of execution of the purchase contract, 35% of each single shipment price at least six months prior to each such shipment, and the remaining 30% of each single shipment price at least one month prior to each such shipment," said Marathon.

This is the largest single order Bitmain has ever received for S19 XPs, in terms of total hash rate (140 terahashes per second or TH/s), according to Marathon CEO Fred Thiel. The deal will help Marathon expand its operations to approximately 199,000 total machines and its hash rate to 23.3 exahashes per second (EH/s) by early 2023, Thiel said last week.

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"This growth represents more than a 600% increase from our current hash rate and a 75% increase from our prior projection of 13.3 EH/s by the middle of 2022," he added.

Marathon is one of the largest public bitcoin mining companies in the world. It is estimated to produce a total of over 3,000 bitcoins in 2021 (currently worth over $143 million) given its track record through the year, according to The Block Research. That is way higher than its 2020 production of 338 bitcoins.

After China's crackdown on bitcoin mining in October, the share of U.S.-based bitcoin miners has increased significantly. The U.S. now leads the bitcoin mining market with an over 35% hash rate.

In the coming year, the share of the U.S.-based mining companies is expected to further increase, according to The Block Research. This is because these companies have jointly ordered over 970,000 machines that are scheduled for delivery throughout 2022.


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Yogita Khatri is a senior reporter at The Block, covering all things crypto. As one of the earliest team members, Yogita has played a pivotal role in breaking numerous stories, exclusives and scoops. With nearly 3,000 articles under her belt, Yogita holds the records as The Block's most-published and most-read author of all time. Prior to joining The Block, Yogita worked at crypto publication CoinDesk and The Economic Times, where she wrote on personal finance. To contact her, email: [email protected]. For her latest work, follow her on X @Yogita_Khatri5.