Multi-business expansion, comprehensive industry chain layout, quick view of Marathon, the leading mining enterprise, recent developments

Written by shaofaye123, Foresight News

The BTC 2024 conference officially began on July 25th, with the first day focusing on BTC Mining. As a leader in BTC mining enterprises, Marathon Digital has attracted the attention of many investors. Recently, the company has been making continuous moves and taking a series of measures, which have become a hot topic in the industry. This article will take you through Marathon Digital’s latest layout in key areas such as increasing BTC holdings and incubating L2.

一、About Marathon Digital

Marathon Digital, formerly known as a patent acquisition company (Marathon Patent Group Inc), has undergone a magnificent transformation from traditional business to BTC mining since renaming and focusing on digital asset mining in 2013. This transformation not only marks a significant shift in the company’s business direction, but also heralds its ambition in the emerging field of cryptocurrency. Currently, MARA has become one of the largest BTC mining companies and one of the largest BTC holders among listed companies in North America.

MARA’s business is self-operated BTC Mining, deploying Mining Rigs to establish Mining Farms and holding cryptocurrencies as a business model. The profit model is relatively simple, relying on improving BTC mining efficiency and appreciation to generate profits. The debt ratio is relatively high. Its revenue has a stronger correlation with the price of BTC, making it susceptible to the risk of insolvency during Bear Markets. As a mining stock, it has a higher leverage effect on BTC and can effectively reflect the bull and bear cycles of BTC. Hash Ribbons can to some extent reflect the relationship between BTC Miner Computing Power, mining enthusiasm, and BTC price. Data tracked by Glassnode shows that the BTC Hash Ribbons indicator is recovering from several months of Capitulation, indicating that Miner Capitulation is gradually ending and the price momentum is slowly shifting from negative to positive. In addition, profit price predictions for mining companies before and after BTC Halving also have some significance for market trends. Therefore, continuous follow-up on mining companies may provide more accurate insights into the long-term trends of BTC.

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2. Recent Layout

BTC Accumulation: Accumulate Core Assets

Marathon Digital’s important strategy in the BTC Mining field is its long-term holding strategy for BTC. According to the news on July 25th, MARA has purchased $100 million worth of BTC, and its BTC holdings on the balance sheet have exceeded 20,000 coins, equivalent to $1.3 billion, which is close to 0.1% of the total supply. Salman Khan, CFO of MARA, has not disclosed the specific purchase time and average price. However, according to BTC financial data, MARA held 18,536 BTC at the end of June, so it can be inferred that this purchase is about 1,500 BTC, with a price range between $54,000 and $68,000.

Marathon Chairman and CEO Fred Thiel said, “Adopting a comprehensive HODL strategy reflects confidence in the long-term value of BTC. We believe BTC is the best reserve asset in the world and support the idea of sovereign wealth funds holding BTC. We encourage governments and businesses to hold BTC as a reserve asset.”

Marathon Digital’s BTC holding strategy is an embodiment of its long-term investment philosophy. By continuously purchasing BTC, MARA not only strengthens its balance sheet but also provides a safety cushion for future market fluctuations. This strategy demonstrates its firm belief in the long-term rise in the value of BTC, while also providing a stable source of income during periods of market downturn.

Kaspa Mining: Diversified Asset Portfolio

Kaspa is a POW blockchain built on the GhostDAG protocol. Kaspa’s high BPS speed enables true Decentralization in PoW mining. Compared to BTC, Kaspa’s mining process is more energy-efficient.

As early as May 2023, MARA began evaluating Kaspa as a potential way to further enrich its asset portfolio. After successfully deploying the first batch of Kaspa ASIC in September 2023, MARA began to expand its business scale. Marathon has purchased approximately 60 petahash of KS3, KS5, and KS5 Pro ASIC. According to ASIC Miner Value’s estimation, considering the current network difficulty and KAS price, in some cases, the profit margin of each ASIC can be as high as 95%. As of June 25, 2024, Marathon has mined 93 million KAS, currently valued at about 15 million US dollars.

Marathon’s Chief Growth Officer, Adam Swick, said, “By mining Kaspa, we can create a diversified source of income that is different from BTC and bring core competitiveness in digital asset computing.” "With our existing infrastructure, unique relationships with hardware manufacturers, strong balance sheet, and team expertise, Marathon has a unique advantage in mining Kaspa and can achieve higher profits.

Anduro Incubation: Deepening Ecological Layout

Anduro is a BTCSidechain platform incubated by Marathon Digital, but independent of MARA’s development. The Anduro Sidechain uses BTC Proof of Work as the core consensus through a process called merged Mining. By simply integrating a simple API and running a full Anduro Node, any BTC Miner can earn transaction fees denominated in BTC permanently from the Anduro Sidechain, and merged Mining does not require additional power consumption. Marathon Digital believes that maintaining Miner incentives, attracting innovators, and increasing volume through the BTC Application Layer are crucial. Anduro’s goal is to create a suitable BTC Application Layer to address the Miner incentive problem while enhancing the functionality and attractiveness of the BTC network. It consists of three key components: Collective, Sidechain, and Sidechain native assets.

Marathon Chairman and CEO Fred Thiel said, “Anduro may introduce new sources of fee income, thereby increasing Marathon’s constantly rising technical stack. In addition, by expanding the functionality of BTC, Anduro may be able to increase the adoption of BTC, thus driving the development of the entire BTC ecosystem.”

Marathon Sidechain product manager JulianDuran said at the Bitcoin 2024 conference on July 26th that “cross-border payments are the biggest use case for blockchain, especially BTC.” “In emerging markets, the average cost of overseas remittances is 8% to 10% of the transaction value, and Settlement typically takes 3-4 days. In contrast, BTC transfers are usually completed within 10 minutes, with second-layer solutions possibly even faster.” In addition, Duran emphasized that the success of any payment solution requires strict compliance with regulatory requirements, even though this may increase costs. In emerging markets, regulatory approval is usually faster and cheaper because local governments and regulatory agencies are eager for better cross-border payment solutions.

Currently, Anduro has integrated Portal to Bitcoin, allowing users to convert assets such as ETH into BTC through atomic transactions (Cryptocurrency can be traded peer-to-peer). According to Cointelegraph’s report on ‘Cross-Border BTC Payments are Anduro’s Top Priority’, Marathon Digital is seeking to collaborate with blockchain developers to build BTC L2 cross-border payment solutions. In addition to payments, Marathon also follows a tokenization plan for real-world assets, including whiskey barrel tokenization in the United States and collaboration with a platform to protect French castles.

MOEP Cooperation: Sustainable Development

In late May this year, BTCMiner Marathon Digital announced a partnership with Kenya to launch a renewable energy project. After the news came out, MARA’s stock price rose by 5% in a day. According to a joint statement, the two parties will establish a committee to guide the development and implementation of all energy-related projects.

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Conclusion

MARA’s recent layout, whether it’s asset accumulation, technological innovation, ecological construction, or energy efficiency management, demonstrates its strength and vision as a leading player in the mining industry. Recently, according to Factset’s latest survey, MARA’s EPS estimate has been raised to 0.65 yuan, with a target price estimate of up to 22.50 yuan. With the continuous maturation of the BTC mining industry and the redistribution of global computing power, MARA is expected to continue to lead.