Marathon Digital Holdings made an announcement on March 15th, revealing that it has reached a definitive agreement with Applied Digital to acquire a Bitcoin mining facility in Texas for $87.3 million. The purchase will be made in cash from Marathon’s holdings, and the transaction will be finalized once all price adjustments are resolved.
According to a blog post by Marathon Digital, this acquisition will increase the company’s Bitcoin mining capacity to approximately 1.1 gigawatts, which is just slightly below the 1.21 gigawatts needed to power the fictional “Flux Capacitor” from the Back to The Future movies.
Fred Thiel, Marathon’s CEO and chairman, commented on the agreement. He highlighted the company’s successful revenue year in 2023, with earnings of $387.5 million, a 229% increase from the previous year and a 452% increase for the fourth quarter. The surge in revenue was attributed to the Bitcoin rally in late 2023 and a 147% rise in Bitcoin production for Marathon Digital.
In late February, Marathon introduced a new service called “Slipstream,” which enables direct Bitcoin transaction submissions. This service was developed to expedite and facilitate large or non-standard transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain.
Looking ahead, mining companies like Marathon Digital will have to navigate the upcoming Bitcoin halving event. This event, expected to occur in mid-April after a certain number of blocks are mined on the Bitcoin blockchain, will result in a 50% reduction in block rewards from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC per block. Large-scale mining organizations could be significantly affected by this change.
Related: For the latest news and comprehensive coverage on Bitcoin halving, visit Cointelegraph.