September Mining Trends: Major Miners Report Increased Production
September Mining Trends – Investors continue to pay a premium for miners diversifying into artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) data centers, even as pure-play miners gain market share. Companies like Marathon, Riot, and CleanSpark reported higher production numbers in September compared to August, reflecting a strategic shift amidst challenging mining economics.
Marathon Leads Bitcoin Production
Marathon produced more Bitcoin (BTC) in September than in any other month since the April halving. This highlights the unique existential dilemma faced by miners: they can pivot to powering AI or HPC operations, potentially seeing their stock prices soar, or they can continue focusing on traditional mining, risking stagnant stock values.
Market Share Growth Despite Underperformance
The largest market cap miners—MARA Holdings (MARA), Riot Platforms (RIOT), and CleanSpark (CLSK)—all increased their share of the total Bitcoin mined last month compared to August. Their strong balance sheets and larger mining operations are helping them weather the downturn in mining profitability triggered by the halving.
However, investor interest has not translated into stock premiums, as these miners underperformed in September. In contrast, companies focused on AI and HPC computing, such as Core Scientific (CORZ), TerraWulf (WULF), and IREN (IREN), outperformed the Bitcoin price during the same period.
The Impact of Halving and Investor Sentiment
The April halving cut the mining reward for Bitcoin by 50%, intensifying competition and narrowing profit margins. Additionally, the recent approval of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the U.S. has dampened investor appetite for traditional mining stocks. Instead, investors are rewarding miners that leverage their data centers for AI and HPC operations, diversifying their revenue streams.
Stock Performance Highlights
In September, stocks of miners with larger market caps rose between 4% and 9%, while miners linked to AI and HPC saw gains of up to 25%. Bitcoin’s price rose approximately 7%, while the CoinDesk 20, a broad crypto market benchmark, climbed about 12%.
Miners have continued to thrive into October, with Riot seeing a 12% increase and Cipher Mining (CIFR) up 8%. Historically, October has been a strong month for Bitcoin, earning the nickname “Uptober.”
Mining Economics Post-Halving
Mining economics have faced challenges since the halving, with the Bitcoin network’s hashrate reaching an all-time high of 693 exahashes per second (EH/s). The average hash rate maintained at 630 EH/s, indicating heightened competition in the mining space.
September also marked an all-time high for Bitcoin difficulty, a measure of how hard it is to mine a new block. The hashprice, which indicates miners’ profitability, hit a one-month high at $48.0 PH/s, despite remaining near all-time lows.
Individual Miner Performance
In September, MARA—the largest publicly traded miner with a market cap of $4.8 billion—reported a 5% increase in its energized hash rate to 36.9 EH/s, mining 705 BTC. This marks the most Bitcoin mined in a single month since the April halving, bringing their holdings to 26,842 BTC, the second-largest stockpile among publicly traded companies, just behind MicroStrategy.
Riot Platforms, the third-largest miner by market cap, increased its mined Bitcoin by 28% in September, projecting a hashrate of 36.3 EH/s by the fourth quarter of 2024 and 56.6 EH/s by the second half of 2025. Riot currently holds 10,427 BTC.
Hurricane Helene’s Impact
The month also saw challenges from Hurricane Helene, affecting CleanSpark, which reported no significant infrastructure losses but had to halt some operations due to the storm. With capital markets for Bitcoin miners tightening, companies have begun to adopt creative fundraising methods. Notably, Cipher Mining mined 155 BTC in September while selling 923 BTC to acquire a 300MW mining site for HPC hosting, now holding 1,512 BTC.
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