Marathon Digital Holdings to Launch the First North American-Based Bitcoin Mining Pool, Fully Compliant with U.S. Regulations...
March 30 2021 - 4:00PM
Marathon Digital Holdings, Inc.
(NASDAQ:MARA) (“Marathon"
or "Company"), one of the largest enterprise Bitcoin
self-mining companies in North America, today announced that the
Company will be launching the first Bitcoin mining pool based in
North America that is fully compliant with U.S. regulations,
including anti-money laundering (AML) and the Office of Foreign
Asset Control’s (OFAC’s) standards.
“The geopolitical value of moving mining pools to North America
cannot be understated. Bitcoin is now no different than any other
strategic or rare earth commodity. In fact, given the number of
businesses now leveraging the potential and promise of Bitcoin both
for distributed ledger benefits and as a reserve and hedge against
inflation points to Bitcoin being with few peers in how important
it is for long-term U.S. interest. With the work of the Future of
Digital Currency Initiative at Stanford, the team here believes
this infrastructure will help further decentralize Bitcoin and
secure the fidelity of the network in both the short and
long-term,” stated Atticus Francken - Co-Founder and Senior Fellow,
Future of Digital Currency Initiative at Stanford
University.
To set up its pool, Marathon has exclusively licensed technology
from DMG Blockchain that allows the Company to filter transactions.
Marathon intends to leverage this technology to ensure that its
mining pool adheres to AML regulations and that all transactions
are compliant with OFAC’s standards. As such, the pool will refrain
from processing transactions from those listed on the U.S.
Department of Treasury’s Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked
Persons List (SDN). By excluding these transactions, all bitcoin
Marathon mines will be compliant with U.S. regulatory
standards.
“While institutional interest in Bitcoin is accelerating, many
large funds and corporations have expressed concerns over
purchasing Bitcoin that may have been tainted by nefarious actors,”
said Merrick Okamoto, Marathon’s chairman and CEO. “Our pools’
initiatives are grounded on decentralization, transparency, legal
compliance with U.S. rules and regulations, and independent
auditability under U.S. auditing standards. While we appreciate
some miners’ appetite for processing transactions indiscriminately,
it is our belief that as a publicly listed company based in the
United States, and as one focused on enabling more institutional
adoption of Bitcoin, it is our responsibility to follow U.S.
regulations. We believe that such regulatory compliant mining will
allow us to produce ‘clean’ Bitcoin, which will enable a greater
number of institutions to gain exposure to this new asset class,
ultimately benefiting our organization, our shareholders, and the
broader network.”
On May 1, 2020, Marathon will begin directing 100% of its
hashrate to the new mining pool. Marathon expects all 103,120 of
its miners to be deployed by the first quarter of 2022, at which
point, the Company will be directing 10.37 EH/s to the mining pool.
On June 1, 2020, the pool will begin accepting other U.S.-based
Bitcoin mining companies.
Okamoto continued, “Currently, more than two thirds of Bitcoin’s
global hashrate is concentrated in pools with little transparency
and most reside in one country. It is our belief that this
concentration of hashrate outside the United States, where central
authorities could interfere with mining operations without due
process, poses a risk to the network. We believe shifting more
mining power to the U.S. could reduce these risks, potentially
strengthening the network and benefitting all who participate in
it. If all 10.37 EH/s of our potential hashrate were pointed
towards this pool today, our mining pool would be the seventh
largest bitcoin mining pool in the world, putting North America on
the map as a digital-asset mining hub.”
Dan Reitzik, DMG Blockchain’s CEO, added, "Merrick Okamoto's
vision for this mining pool is exactly what is needed in the crypto
mining industry today. We are excited to provide Marathon with our
proprietary software tools and ongoing technological support to
help realize this vision."
Investor NoticeInvesting in our securities
involves a high degree of risk. Before making an investment
decision, you should carefully consider the risks, uncertainties
and forward-looking statements described under "Risk Factors" in
Item 1A of our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K for the
fiscal year ended December 31, 2020. If any of these risks were to
occur, our business, financial condition or results of operations
would likely suffer. In that event, the value of our securities
could decline and you could lose part or all of your investment.
The risks and uncertainties we describe are not the only ones
facing us. Additional risks not presently known to us or that we
currently deem immaterial may also impair our business operations.
In addition, our past financial performance may not be a reliable
indicator of future performance, and historical trends should not
be used to anticipate results in the future. Future changes in the
network-wide mining difficulty rate or Bitcoin hashrate may also
materially affect the future performance of Marathon's production
of Bitcoin. Additionally, all discussions of financial metrics
assume mining difficulty rates as of March 2021. See "Safe Harbor"
below.
Forward-Looking StatementsStatements made in
this press release include forward-looking statements within the
meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended,
and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words
such as “may,” “will,” “plan,” “should,” “expect,” “anticipate,”
“estimate,” “continue,” or comparable terminology. Such
forward-looking statements are inherently subject to certain risks,
trends and uncertainties, many of which the Company cannot predict
with accuracy and some of which the Company might not even
anticipate and involve factors that may cause actual results to
differ materially from those projected or suggested. Readers are
cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking
statements and are advised to consider the factors listed above
together with the additional factors under the heading “Risk
Factors” in the Company's Annual Reports on Form 10-K, as may be
supplemented or amended by the Company's Quarterly Reports on Form
10-Q. The Company assumes no obligation to update or supplement
forward-looking statements that become untrue because of subsequent
events, new information or otherwise.
About DMG Blockchain Solutions Inc.DMG is a
vertically integrated blockchain and cryptocurrency company that
manages, operates, and develops end-to-end digital solutions to
monetize the blockchain ecosystem. DMG’s businesses are segmented
into three main divisions: data centre operations, data analytics
and forensics and developing enterprise blockchains. DMG’s data
centre operations focus on earning revenues from block rewards and
transaction fees by mining primarily bitcoin as well as providing
hosting services for industrial mining clients entirely powered by
renewable energy. DMG’s data analytics and forensic services
provide technical expertise software products such as Blockseer
Pool, Mine Manager and Walletscore, as well as working with
auditors, law firms, and law enforcement organizations. DMG’s
permissioned blockchain technology is focused on developing
enterprise software for the supply chain management of controlled
products. DMG’s strategy is to become the domain experts across the
business verticals it focuses on. DMG’s environmentally committed
management team includes seasoned crypto experts, forensic &
financial professionals and blockchain developers with deep
relationships throughout the industry.
Future changes in the Bitcoin network-wide mining difficulty
rate or Bitcoin hashrate may materially affect the future
performance of DMG’s production of Bitcoin, and future operational
results could also be materially affected by the price of Bitcoin
and an increase in hashrate mining difficulty.For more information
on DMG Blockchain Solutions visit: www.dmgblockchain.com.
About Marathon Digital HoldingsMarathon is a
digital asset technology company that mines cryptocurrencies with a
focus on the blockchain ecosystem and the generation of digital
assets.
Marathon Digital
Holdings Company Contact:Jason AssadTelephone:
678-570-6791Email: Jason@marathondh.com
Marathon Digital Holdings Investor
Contact:Gateway Investor RelationsMatt Glover and Charlie
SchumacherTelephone:
949-574-3860Email: MARA@gatewayir.com
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