Marathon Digital, a bitcoin mining startup, attributes the recent decline in Bitcoin mined in June on Texas weather and a decline in transaction fees.
According to a statement from Marathon Digital dated July 5, the total amount of Bitcoin produced in June decreased by 21% from May.
The influence of the weather in Texas, where Marathon’s major operations are based, was the main explanation given for the reduction in production, which saw 979 Bitcoin produced throughout the month.
The start of June marks the transition from spring to summer in Texas.
“The decreased production relative to last month was due to weather-related curtailment in Texas and a significant decrease in transaction fees.”the statement said.
The average temperature increased by about 8.4 degrees fahrenheit between May and June, according to information from the National Weather Service in Dallas, Texas.June had an average temperature of 84 degrees whereas May had 75.6.According to a Feb. 6 report, Riot Platforms, a crypto mining company, saw 17,040 rigs go offline at its Texas operations as a result of the “severe winter weather” in the state.
According to the statement, transaction fees for Marathon Digital decreased from 11.8% of all Bitcoin earned in May to roughly 5.1% in June.Although network congestion decreased in June, it was highlighted that the development of Bitcoin Ordinals dramatically boosted transaction costs in May. Despite this, the business stated that it still has a good prognosis for the “future of mining economics.”
This is not the first time Texas weather has significantly affected cryptocurrency miners.According to Peter Wall, CEO of cryptocurrency mining company Argo Blockchain, which runs a data center in West Texas, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas issued a conservation alert in July 2022, forcing Argo and many other mining operators in the region to temporarily halt mining operations.More recently, a report published on July 5 by cryptocurrency analytics platform Coin Metrics indicated that the second quarter of 2023 saw Bitcoin miners earn $184 million from transaction fees, which is more than they did for the entire year of 2022.