It appears that publicly traded Bitcoin miner Marathon Digital is at odds with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Marathon reveals that it has received a subpoena (court order) for the second time regarding its data center in Hardin, Montana.
What is going on?
It is also not entirely clear from the reporting by Marathon Digital itself what exactly the SEC wants from the Bitcoin miner. “We understand that the SEC may investigate violations of federal securities laws. We are cooperating with the SEC,” Marathon Digital said clearly during the disclosure of the quarterly figures on May 10.
Surprisingly, this isn’t the first time Marathon Digital has received a subpoena from the SEC. It previously received one in the third quarter of 2021. It stated that the company had to disclose a number of documents and communications to the SEC.
Marathon Digital itself has not yet responded to the incident. The share of the Bitcoin miner was up 8.96 percent yesterday, so they seem to have little trouble with the SEC misery.
Measured over the entire year, Marathon Digital is even at a plus of 200 percent. If you had bought shares in Marathon at the beginning of the year, you now have a wonderful profit of 200 percent. Few stocks can say that in 2023.
New facility
On May 9, Marathon Digital announced that it has started a partnership with Zero Two. That is a company with a focus on infrastructure for digital assets. Together, Marathon Digital and Zero Two will build a large mining facility in Abu Dhabi.
It seems that people there are also interested in Bitcoin mining. The facility would consist of two mines with a combined capacity of 250 megawatts. Although mining is normally not possible in Abu Dhabi due to the heat, there is now a solution for this.
It’s about so-called immersion cooling where the equipment is in some kind of coolant. Thanks to that coolant, it is simply possible to mine in areas such as Abu Dhabi.
Interestingly, this announcement comes just two months after Biden announced a new tax for Bitcoin miners that would make them pay up to 30 percent extra tax on their energy costs.