SEC Targets Bitcoin Miner Marathon in Latest Action Against The Industry

Bitcoin mining firm Marathon Digital Holdings has received another subpoena from the SEC. The summons is in relation to its Montana data center, which the regulator claims may have violated securities laws.

The company said it was cooperating with the SEC following an initial subpoena on April 10 relating to “transactions with related parties.”

“We understand that the SEC may be investigating whether or not there may have been any violations of the federal securities law,” it stated.

Marathon Digital was also subpoenaed in September 2021 for documents relating to its Hardin, Montana, data center.

The firm did admit to finding “accounting errors” in financial statements following scrutiny by the SEC, according to Bloomberg.

The financial regulator is leaving no stone unturned in its relentless attack on the crypto industry. However, it is unclear how a Bitcoin mining company can fall afoul of securities laws.

Marathon Reports $7M Net Loss

On May 10, Marathon reported a net loss of $7.2 million, or $0.05 per share, during the first fiscal quarter of 2023. This is lower than the $12.9 million net loss it reported in Q1, 2022.

Its revenue was $51.1 million for the quarter, marginally lower than the previous year’s revenue of $51.7 million. Furthermore, a 74% increase in Bitcoin production was more than offset by lower BTC prices in the current year period.

Fred Thiel, Marathon chairman and CEO, said:

“After weathering a tumultuous 2022 that tested the resilience of our entire industry, this year is off to a strong start as we grew our hash rate, reduced our cost to mine, and improved our balance sheet during the first quarter.”

Company stock (MARA) gained 9% on the day to reach $10.15 in after-hours trading. Marathon share prices have surged almost 200% this year, outperforming Bitcoin and crypto markets.

Mining Revenue Spikes

Bitcoin miner profitability, or hash price, has increased this month as the BRC-20 memecoin and ordinals craze pushes up network transactions and fees.

Hash price, which is measured in dollars per terahash per second per day, shot up to its highest level for almost a year at $0.127 on May 9.

The move coincided with a peak in daily BTC transactions of over 580,000 and a surge in average fees to above $20.

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