Marathon posts record growth in 2023 earnings, unveils Bitcoin Layer-2 Anduro

Bitcoin mining and technology firm Marathon Digital reported record growth in a number of categories in its 2023 annual earnings report.

The firm also revealed the development of a Layer-2 network for Bitcoin called Anduro to build upon the flagship crypto’s ecosystem.

Marathon chairman and CEO Fred Thiel said:

“2023 was a record-breaking year for Marathon, during which we achieved our primary objectives of energizing our fleet of previously purchased mining rigs and optimizing our performance.”

According to the firm’s balance sheet, it mined a record 12,852 Bitcoin over the course of 2023 and had a total of 15,126 BTC on its balance sheet as of Dec. 31, 2023.

Record earnings

Marathon’s 2023 revenue grew 229% year over year to $387.5 million from $117.8 million in 2022.

The company’s net income for the year stood at a record $261.2 million versus a net loss of $694 million in the previous year. Meanwhile, net income for the fourth quarter of 2023 stood at $151.8 million.

Diluted EPS for the year was $1.06.

As of Dec. 31, 2023, Marathon held $357.3 million in unrestricted cash and cash equivalents plus 15,126 BTC in unrestricted Bitcoin — equating to a combined total worth of $997.0 million at the time.

The company also experience significant growth in its operations.

Marathon’s energized hash rate rose to 24.7 EH/s in 2023 from 7.0 EH/s in 2022, marking a growth rate of 253%.

Additionally, its fleet efficiency improved by 21% to 24.5 joules per terahash and the firm expanded its operations to 900 megawatts of total capacity. Marathon now operates 11 separate facilities across three continents.

Bitcoin Layer-2 Anduro

Marathon claims that Anduro will allow the creation of multiple Bitcoin sidechains and serve as a programmable application layer.

Marathon said it is currently developing the first two Anduro-based sidechains: Coordinate, aimed at the Ordinals community, and Alys, an Ethereum-compatible chain for institutional asset tokenization.

Both sidechains can be developed further by open-source contributors, Marathon noted.

The company added that Anduro sidechains will make use of a process called merge-mining. This allows participating miners, including Marathon, to earn revenue from Anduro sidechain transactions denominated in Bitcoin while simultaneously mining on Bitcoin’s base layer.

The announcement of the sidechain represents a notable shift to Bitcoin development from Marathon, which has primarily focused on Bitcoin mining since its inception.