Marathon Digital blames weather conditions for mining 21% less Bitcoin in June
Bitcoin mining company Marathon Digital has linked the recent slump in Bitcoin (BTC) mined in June to weather conditions in Texas and a drop in transaction fees.
According to a July 5 statement, Marathon Digital experienced a 21% decline in June for the total amount of Bitcoin mined compared with May.
The primary reason cited for the decline in production, which saw 979 Bitcoin produced throughout the month, was the impact of the weather conditions in Texas, where Marathon’s main operations are located.
“The decreased production relative to last month was due to weather-related curtailment in Texas and a significant decrease in transaction fees.”
The start of June marks the transition from spring to summer in Texas.
According to data from the National Weather Service in Dallas, Texas, there was a jump of almost 8.4 degrees fahrenheit in the average temperature between May and June. May averaged 75.6 degrees, whereas June averaged 84 degrees.
On Feb. 6, Cointelegraph reported that crypto mining firm Riot Platforms had 17,040 rigs go offline at its operations in Texas due to “severe winter weather” in the state.
The statement added that Marathon Digital’s transaction fees fell to approximately 5.1% of the total Bitcoin earned in June, compared to 11.8% earned in May.
It noted the emergence of Bitcoin Ordinals significantly increased transaction fees in May, adding that while network congestion eased in June, the company still has a positive outlook for the “future of mining economics.”
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This is not the first time that Texas weather has had a major impact on crypto miners.
In July 2022, Peter Wall, CEO of crypto mining company Argo Blockchain, which operates a data center in West Texas, told Cointelegraph that the Electric Reliability Council of Texas sent out a conservation alert, forcing Argo, along with many other mining operators in the area, to shut down mining activities temporarily.
In more recent news, a July 5 report by cryptocurrency analytics platform Coin Metrics revealed that Bitcoin miners made $184 million from transaction fees in the second quarter of 2023, which is more than they made throughout the entire year of 2022.
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