The largest bitcoin miner in May sold 63% of the $BTC mined after the halving of $BTC

Mining company Marathon Digital has sold 63% of all the bitcoins (BTC) it has mined since the halving that occurred in late April.

At the end of May, Marathon had $290.4 million in cash and cash equivalents on its balance sheet.

This large volume of BTC sales stood out against the performance of other miners. Riot Platforms, for example, reported no BTC sales in May, while it mined 215 bitcoins. CleanSpark mined 417 BTC last month, but sold only a small fraction of that - just 2.43 BTC.

Miners have been adjusting their activities since the latest bitcoin halving, in which the reward for mining BTC is cut in half every 210,000 blocks, or roughly every four years. The most recent cut occurred on April 20, reducing miners' rewards from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC per mined block.

“We mitigated the impact of the April halving by increasing the number of blocks mined, resulting in 616 bitcoins, which represents a decline of only 27%,” said Fred Thiel, chairman and CEO of Marathon Digital.

Marathon Digital mined 170 blocks in May 2024, a 32% increase from April. Bitcoin miners are looking to improve their technical capabilities and efficiency to remain competitive in the face of shrinking rewards. CleanSpark, for example, is said to be “very active in mergers and acquisitions.” The company plans to close its recently acquired Wyoming branches in the coming weeks while it looks for “additional opportunities.”

Meanwhile, Marathon is exploring overseas expansion opportunities. The company recently announced a partnership with the Republic of Kenya's Ministry of Energy and Petroleum to optimize renewable energy projects across the country. Another move includes a pilot project in Paraguay to optimize its energy mix.

“We aim to generate 50 per cent of our revenue from abroad by 2028,” Thiel noted.

Bitcoin miners can help optimize the energy infrastructure by acting as a flexible load that stabilizes the grid.