By
Chimamanda U. Martha
April 25th, 2024
Big corporations have chipped in the Bitcoin mining game as America’s crypto mining company Marathon Patent Group enters long-term purchase agreement with China’s mining manufacturer Bitmains for its next-generation S-19 Pro Miners.
As per the latest information from Blockchain.com Bitcoin (BTC) seven-day average hash rate has reached a new record-high of 129.075 TH/s. The previous record of the BTC network was just 15 days back on July 29.
The hash rate is the measure of computing power required to mine and add new blocks in the Bitcoin network. It also represents the computing power devoted by the moners in processing BTC transactions. A higher hash rate shows higher miner activity and profitability for them.
Well, this is also surprising considering the Bitcoin network underwent its four Bitcoin halving in May 2020. The Bitcoin halving rewards the miner-rewards from 12.5 BTC to 6.25 BTC. Many analysts also expected that the it will bring the BTC hash rate down. With BTC miners requiring high-end miners to crack the block-code, the mining costs have surged as well.
Bitcoin (BTC) price has increased by 65% year-to-date reaching close to $12,000. In fact, in August, it surged $12,000 levels twice but failed to maintain support there. Currently, Bitcoin is facing a major resistance at $12,000 and was currently swinging in the range of $11,700-$11,900. At press time, BTC was trading at a price of $11,878 with a market cap of $219 billion.
Reason Behind The Surging BTC Hash Rate
Over the last weekend, Nasdaq-listed crypto mining company – Marathon Patent Group Inc – announced a long-term purchasing contract with mining manufacturer Bitmain. As per the announcement, the Marathon Group will purchase Bitmain’s next-generation Antminer S-19 Pro ASIC Miners in a whopping $23 million deal. Marathon’s Chief Executive Officer, Merrick Okamoto, stated:
“The execution of this contract with Bitmain represents a milestone event for our company. This investment is expected to result in Marathon being one of, if not the largest, Bitcoin miner in North America. Today’s news comes on the heels of recent incremental business growth through the purchase of what now is expected to total 13,520 next generation miners generating 1.55 Exahash upon full installation. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Bitmain for working with us on this Long Term Purchase Contract, which locks in the purchase price, a substantial discount from the current retail price, and greatly reduces the risk of price increases to the Company and potential shortage of Miner availability in the future.”
Bitmain is a China-based mining manufacturer, a country that is home to the largest number of Bitcoin miners. Despite banning Bitcoin, China controls over 50% of the BTC mining power.