Marathon Digital produced a record number of bitcoin in January

• Marathon reports a 45% sequential increase in its monthly BTC production.
• The digital asset technology company also sold 1,500 bitcoin last month.
• Wall Street sees upside in Marathon stock to a little under $12 on average.

Shares of Marathon Digital Holdings Inc have lost nearly 15% in recent sessions after the mining company said it did not mint nearly as many bitcoin last month as it sold.

How many BTC did it sell last month?

Marathon opted to sell a total of 1,500 bitcoin in January amidst a continued increase in the BTC price to fund its operational costs.

On the flip side, it minted a record 687 BTC last month that represents a whopping 45% sequential increase. In its monthly production and mining update, the management wrote:

Improvements in our operational efficiency, along with proactive measures we’ve taken to strengthen our balance sheet, have placed Marathon in strong position to achieve growth and operational targets in 2023.

Marathon stock has already more than doubled since the start of the year. Still, Wall Street is sticking to its consensus overweight rating on “MARA” and sees upside in it to a little under $12 a share.

Marathon Digital to continue selling BTC

A continued increase in production, as per Marathon Digital Holdings Inc, will see it further liquidate its BTC holdings moving forward to cover operational costs. The press release added:

We remain confident in our ability to scale Marathon into one of the largest and most energy efficient bitcoin mining operations globally by installing 23 exahashes of computing power near the mid of 2023.

According to Marathon Digital, it increased both its unrestricted cash and unrestricted BTC holdings last month to $133.8 million and 8,090 bitcoin, respectively.

Marathon is set to report its Q4 results early next month. Consensus is for it to swing to 19 cents a share of loss this quarter versus 36 per share it earned a year ago.  Last week, BlackRock confirmed that it now owns 8.62 million shares of Marathon Digital that represents 7.4% of the digital asset technology company.