$28,531 in Bitcoin Marathon Digital reported a quarterly record of 2,195 BTC mined during the first quarter of 2023, which is currently worth around $62 million.
Marathon reported in an April 3 update that the 2,195 mined BTC represents a 74% increase over the first quarter of last year and a 41% increase over the fourth quarter of 2022.
It follows the miner increasing its operational hash rate by 195% beginning in Q1 2022. Marathon also set a monthly record of 825 BTC mined in March, which is currently worth around $23.3 million, representing a 21% increase over February.
Marathon CEO Fred Thiel said in a statement that the company has made "notable progress" on its two primary initiatives for 2023, which are to energize previously purchased mining rigs to reach 23 exahashes by the end of the second quarter and to optimize performance.
The company has increased its operational hash rate from 7.0 exahashes on January 1 to 11.5 exahashes as of March 31. Marathon's management attributed the increase in efficiency to the addition of 25,900 Bitcoin miners based in various North Dakota facilities, bringing the company's fleet to 105,200 mining rigs as of April 1.
"We reduced our debt by $50 million and increased our unrestricted Bitcoin holdings by 3,132 Bitcoin after we prepaid our term loan and terminated our credit facilities with Silvergate Bank," Marathon said, explaining how its operational improvements cleaned up a portion of its balance sheet by wiping out $50 billion in debt in addition to repaying its loan to the now-defunct Silvergate Bank.
The company ended the quarter with approximately $124.9 million in unrestricted cash and cash equivalents, as well as 11,466 BTC worth more than $450 million. Marathon pointed out that the figures had not been audited.
Marathon expects operational efficiencies to increase further after purchasing a new batch of Antminer S19 XPs Bitcoin mining rigs, which are said to be nearly 30% more efficient than the Antminer S19 Pro. The S19 XPs will provide approximately 66% of Marathon's hash rate once those miners are installed, according to the company.
Compass Mining, another Bitcoin mining firm, has criticized the design of S19 XPs.
In a March report, the company identified "three flaws" in the new S19s that could cause the mining rig to overheat or, in some cases, shut down completely.