According to CoinDesk, Marathon Digital, a Bitcoin miner, has diversified its mining revenue by mining the layer 1 protocol Kaspa. Since September 2023, Marathon has mined 93 million KAS tokens, currently valued at approximately $15 million. The company has brought 30 petahash worth of machines online for Kaspa mining, with plans to start 30 more by the third quarter.
Kaspa uses a proof-of-work consensus mechanism known as the GHOSTDAG protocol. Unlike Bitcoin, this protocol allows for the simultaneous production of multiple blocks, resulting in faster transactions and more block rewards for miners. 'By mining Kaspa, we are able to create a stream of revenue that is diversified from Bitcoin, and that is directly tied to our core competencies in digital asset compute,' stated Adam Swick, Marathon’s chief growth officer.
The price of the Kaspa token has seen a nearly 50% increase this year, while Bitcoin has seen a 44% rise. The broader CoinDesk 20 index has risen nearly 16% in the same time period. Marathon began mining Kaspa last year after bringing its first mining computer online. The company has purchased 60 petahash worth of mining machines capable of generating profit margins of up to 95%. Currently, Marathon has 30 mining rigs operational in its Texas sites, with the remaining rigs expected to be online by the third quarter.
In the wake of the crypto winter and recent halving, Bitcoin miners have been seeking ways to diversify their revenue. Many have pivoted to using their current infrastructure for artificial intelligence and other computing needs. Some miners, including Marathon, have chosen to monetize other layers of Bitcoin to generate additional revenue.