Bitcoin Miners HIVE and MARA Produce More BTC but Earn Less as Revenue Falls

Two of the larger Bitcoin miners have reported increased Bitcoin production but reduced mining revenue for the September quarter, compared to the same quarter last year. US-based MARA Holdings, the seventh-largest miner by market cap, and Canadian HIVE Digital Technologies, the 12th-largest by market cap, said so in their latest regulatory filings.

MARA’s Bitcoin production increased by 5% to 2,247 Bitcoin, while HIVE’s increased by 49% to 1,070 coins. Both had a drop in mining revenue, with HIVE’s dropping 7.4% to US$76 million (AU$110.5 million) and MARA’s down 34% to US$159 million (AU$231.1 million).

The falling Bitcoin price was a major factor. HIVE reported an average value of US$71,003 (AU$103,200) per Bitcoin received from mining during the quarter, compared to US$114,382 (AU$166,300) a year earlier. Electricity costs also increased for both miners, with HIVE’s rising 20% to US$45.6 million (AU$66.3 million) and MARA’s purchased energy costs up 12% to US$48.1 million (AU$69.9 million).

HIVE sold 991 of its mined coins and ended the quarter with reserves of 269 BTC. With that, HIVE is a relatively small HODLer, sitting towards the lower end of the rankings of Bitcoin treasury firms.

MARA is a different kettle of fish. The Hallandale, Florida-based miner is not only a top miner; it’s also one of the largest publicly traded Bitcoin treasury firms. It sold 13,597 Bitcoin for roughly US$1.1 billion (AU$1.6 billion) after the September quarter ended, having held 34,012 BTC at the end of September.

That would leave it with 20,415 BTC, assuming no other changes to its holdings.

Those sales also changed how MARA financed its planned Long Ridge acquisition. During the quarter, it had borrowed US$750 million (AU$1.09 billion), using Bitcoin as security to help fund the purchase of the natural gas power business. After selling the Bitcoin, MARA paid off the borrowing. This also freed up 17,477 BTC that had been tied to the loans.

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Miners Turn to AI

Meanwhile, both companies are also expanding their artificial intelligence infrastructure businesses.

HIVE’s high-performance computing (HPC) hosting revenue increased 71% to US$8.8 million (AU$12.8 million) during the quarter. The company has much larger plans for this side of its business, outlining potential spending of up to US$493 million (AU$715.4 million) over the next three years. This would cover land purchases, data centre construction and additional computing hardware.

MARA is also looking beyond Bitcoin mining, although its approach is somewhat different. It is working with Starwood Digital Ventures on developing data centre sites, while its subsidiary Exaion focuses on providing computing services. Exaion has already signed a four-year contract worth US$79 million (AU$114.6 million) with a US customer, giving MARA a concrete business opportunity outside Bitcoin mining.

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