As the first week of August concluded, publicly traded bitcoin miners have released their July performance updates, revealing a mixed picture for the industry. The latest data highlights that while many miners are grappling with reduced revenues following the April bitcoin halving, Riot Platforms and Bitfarms have managed notable improvements.
Bitcoin miners have been under significant pressure since the halving event, which reduced block rewards and intensified competition within the sector. Short-seller Kerrisdale Capital raised concerns in a June report about the sustainability of US-listed miners in this increasingly competitive environment.
According to recent reports, Cipher Mining is considering a potential sale after receiving takeover interest, as noted by Bloomberg.
Here’s a summary of the July performance for some of the largest miners:
- Marathon Digital (MARA): As the largest public miner by market capitalization at around $5 billion, Marathon Digital saw a 17% month-over-month increase in bitcoin production, reaching 692 BTC. Its average operational hash rate grew by 5% to 27.5 EH/s. Marathon, which held 20,818 bitcoin as of July 31, adopted a “HODL” strategy, retaining all mined BTC and planning periodic strategic purchases.
- CleanSpark: The company mined 494 bitcoin in July, marking a 10% increase from June. Its BTC treasury grew by 567% year-over-year, now totaling 7,082 BTC. The average hash rate for July was 20.07 EH/s, yielding an average of 15.94 BTC mined daily.
- Riot Platforms: Riot experienced a significant 45% increase in bitcoin production from June, mining 370 BTC in July. The company also expanded its operations by acquiring Block Mining, a Kentucky-based bitcoin miner, in a $92.5 million deal.
- Core Scientific: Core Scientific mined 411 bitcoin in July, slightly down from 430 BTC in June. The company’s total hash rate was 20.1 EH/s. Core Scientific is shifting some of its mining operations to support the expansion of its HPC hosting business and has entered into an agreement with Block, Inc. (formerly Square) to supply new 3-nanometer mining ASICs.
Among smaller miners:
- Iris Energy: Mined 222 BTC in July, a decrease from 233 BTC in June and 230 BTC in May.
- Cipher Mining: Mined 178 BTC and sold 108 BTC, leaving it with a total of 2,270 BTC.
- TeraWulf: Increased its monthly production by 13% to 155 BTC.
- Hut 8: Produced 105 BTC, bringing its total holdings to 9,102 BTC, and introduced a new CFO.
- Bitfarms: Achieved a 34% month-over-month increase in bitcoin production, mining 253 BTC in July. The company reported a 62% increase in monthly bitcoin production since the halving event.
The performance of Riot Platforms and Bitfarms underscores their resilience and growth despite broader industry challenges, as miners continue to adapt to the post-halving landscape.