Marathon Digital, a Bitcoin mining firm, has recently announced that it has started mining Kaspa (KAS), a layer-1 proof-of-work (PoW) coin. The company revealed that it has already mined 93 million KAS tokens, valued at around $15 million as of June 25.
This move towards mining Kaspa is part of Marathon Digital’s strategy to diversify its revenue streams. The company’s chief growth officer, Adam Swick, highlighted that by mining Kaspa, they can generate revenue that is separate from Bitcoin and aligned with their expertise in digital asset compute.
Kaspa currently holds the position of the fifth-largest PoW coin in the world with a market cap exceeding $4.1 billion. This places Kaspa behind other major PoW coins like Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, Dogecoin, and Bitcoin.
The unique aspect of Kaspa lies in its BlockDAG mechanism, which allows for faster transactions compared to Bitcoin. While Bitcoin produces one block every 10 minutes, Kaspa can produce one block per second, enabling speedy transactions on the network.
Marathon Digital initially explored Kaspa mining in May 2023 and began deploying ASICs for the altcoin in September of the same year. The company has since acquired 60 petahash of Kaspa ASICs, with plans to deploy the full capacity by the third quarter of 2024.
According to ASIC Miner Value, Marathon’s Kaspa mining operation could potentially yield profits with up to 95% margins based on the current price of KAS and network difficulty. Currently, half of Marathon’s mining capacity for Kaspa is operational in Texas, with the remaining capacity set to be fully operational in the coming months.
As of the latest update, the price of KAS has seen a 9% increase in a 24-hour period, trading at around $0.175 on Wednesday at 5:13 pm ET. The cryptocurrency has a maximum supply of 28.7 billion KAS, with a circulating supply of 24 billion KAS.
Marathon Digital’s foray into Kaspa mining showcases the company’s commitment to exploring new opportunities in the cryptocurrency space and leveraging its expertise to drive profitability and growth in alternative digital assets. This strategic move not only diversifies Marathon’s revenue streams but also positions the company to capitalize on the unique features and potential of Kaspa as a promising PoW coin in the market.