Marathon Digital stock soars after company ramps up BTC mining in Q1

Shares of Marathon Digital Holdings (MARA) surged on Monday after the cryptocurrency miner announced a significant increase in mining capacity in the first quarter, allowing it to up its stake in Bitcoin (BTC) by a considerable margin. 

MARA stock jumped 15.8% to close at $56.56, marking a new all-time high. The crypto mining stock rose by as much as 17.1% earlier in the day.

By comparison, the technology-focused Nasdaq Composite Index rose 1.7% on Monday. Meanwhile, the Bitwise 10 Crypto Index Fund advanced 1.9%

At current values, Marathon Digital has a total market capitalization of $5.6 billion, putting it among the largest crypto proxy stocks.

Marathoned mined 196 BTC in the quarter ending March 31, bringing its total holdings to 5,134.2 BTC, the company announced Monday. At current values, Marathon’s Bitcoin holdings are worth nearly $302 million.

In addition to mining the digital asset, Marathon purchased 4,812.66 BTC in January at an average price of $3,1168.

The company was able to scale up its mining operations in the first quarter after receiving 10,300 S-19 Pro ASIC miners from Bitmain. Marathon’s mining fleet now consists of 5,800 miners collectively generating 0.71 EH/s in hash power.

Cash on hand at the company was $212 million at the end of the first quarter. Total liquidity, which is defined as cash and BTC holdings, was worth approximately $513.9 million.

As Cointelegraph recently reported, Marathon plans to divert all hash power to its new, regulatory compliant mining pool on May 1. The mining pool has been set up to adhere to all U.S. anti-money laundering guidelines and other regulators set forth by the Office of Foreign Asset Control.