Storm-hit Marathon Digital plugs remaining bitcoin miners into third-party pool
Marathon Digital Holdings says it’s plugged its remaining Bitcoin miners into a third-party mining pool to keep things ticking over after a serious storm decimated its Montana operation earlier this month.
The storm ripped through the town of Hardin on June 11, severely damaging the power plant that drives the company’s 30,000 Montana-based miners. These miners represent more than 75% of the firm’s entire output.
Marathon says its Montana machines will be down until early July when they’ll most likely run at a reduced capacity. Until then, according to a statement released on Wednesday, the company has “pointed its remaining active miners, representing approximately 0.6 EH/s, away from the company’s mining pool, MaraPool, and towards a third-party mining pool in order to increase the probability of earning bitcoin.”
Marathon was already planning to move its operations
Back in April, Marathon said that it was planning to shift its operations from its existing coal-powered Montana facility to a new location with more sustainable power sources later this year. According to its most recent statement, the firm is now evaluating whether or not the recent storm will bring this move forward.
“Bringing miners fully back online will take time, and we are committed to doing everything we can to rebuild our hash rate and to improve our bitcoin production, said Marathon CEO Fred Thiel.
“As part of that process, we have redirected our active miners, which represent approximately 0.6 exahash, to point towards a third-party mining pool, so that we can improve our probability of earning bitcoin while we work to bring the Hardin miners back online,” (our emphasis).
Read more: Bitcoin mining CEO predicts energy companies will dominate crypto
Earlier this year, Thiel claimed that he’d be open to selling the business – provided somebody came to him with the right offer.
Thiel made the comment amid a surge in crypto mining companies becoming targets for takeovers by energy providers looking to get into the industry.
“I am always willing to talk but it’s got to be the right price,” Thiel told Bloomberg in March.
“If somebody offers us a huge premium over our market cap, I have to take it under consideration and that may be the right thing to do for the investors.”
Thiel also predicted that energy companies could eventually become a major force in Bitcoin mining.
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