Marathon Digital Pivots to AI as Bitcoin Production Slows

Marathon Digital is showing interest in artificial intelligence (AI) as its Bitcoin production slowed in August. On Sept. 5, the BTC miner announced the appointment of AI experts Janet George and Barbara Humpton to its board

Bitcoin (BTC) miner Marathon Digital (NASDAQ:MARA) is showing interest in expanding its artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities as its BTC production slowed in August.

On Sept. 5, Marathon announced the appointment of AI experts Janet George and Barbara Humpton to its board of directors, effective Sept. 1. The appointments follow the resignations of Kevin DeNuccio and Said Ouissal from the board on Sept. 1 as part of a planned transition.

Emphasizing the new board members' strong backgrounds in AI, data centers and energy, Marathon highlighted their leadership and success in driving innovation in complex industries.

According to the press statement, Humpton currently serves as the President and CEO of Siemens USA, where she has led the integration of AI and industrial data to enhance the company's operations.

On the other hand, George previously worked as the Corporate Vice President and General Manager of Data Center & Artificial Intelligence at Intel Corporation. Throughout her career, she has also worked with major companies like Oracle, Western Digital, Accenture, Yahoo, eBay and Apple.

Commenting on the appointments, Marathon’s Chairman and CEO Fred Thiel noted the growing importance of AI in data center strategies. Thiel stressed the need for AI expertise on the board to support the company’s expansion into AI-focused infrastructure.

“We believe that the integration of AI into data center operations will continue to drive innovation and efficiency in the digital asset mining industry,” said Thiel.

These appointments come as market observers have highlighted the vast revenue potential an AI pivot could present to Bitcoin miners. Notably, VanEck projected that Bitcoin miners could earn an average yearly profit of around $14 billion if they dedicate 20% of their energy capacity to AI computation by 2027.

Meanwhile, Marathon’s Bitcoin production dropped 3% to 673 BTC in August on a monthly basis, while block wins fell by 2% compared to July. However, the company mined its 4,000th block during the month and increased its hash rate by 11% to 35.2 EH/s.

Thiel stated that the firm improved the operation of its sites and remains on track to reach its target of 50 EH/s by the end of 2024.

“During the month, we energized almost 18 immersion containers in Granbury, Texas. We are converting a large portion of our Granbury data center from air cooled to MARA’s immersion containers, with plans to transition at least another 30 in September,” Thiel added.

Mentioned in this article

Oluwapelumi Adejumo

Oluwapelumi values Bitcoin's potential. He imparts insights on a range of topics like DeFi, hacks, mining and culture, underlining transformative power.

Assad Jafri

AJ, a passionate journalist since Yemen's 2011 Arab Spring, has honed his skills worldwide for over a decade. Specializing in financial journalism, he now focuses on crypto reporting.

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