Bitcoin mining firm Marathon Digital has announced it is increasing its 2024 hash rate target from 35-37 exahashes per second to 50 EH/s, citing expanded capacity after recent acquisitions.

“Given the amount of capacity we have available following our recent acquisitions and the amount of hash rate [...] we now believe it is possible for us to double the scale of Marathon’s mining operations in 2024,” explained Marathon’s CEO Fred Thiel.

Thiel said its target would be “fully funded” as there is no need for the firm to raise additional capital to achieve its new target hash rate.

The firm’s recent acquisitions include a 200 megawatt Bitcoin mining center purchased from Digital Applied for $87.3 million in March and two additional mining sites, totaling 390 megawatts from Generate Capital for $179 million last December.

Marathon currently boasts a hash rate of 24.7 EH/s for its Bitcoin mining endeavours, with Core Scientific and Riot Platforms filling out the podium at 16.9 EH/s and 12.4 EH/s respectively, according to Hashrate Index.

If Marathon reaches its 50 EH/s target, it would mark more than a 100% increase in the firm’s hash rate since the start of 2024.

Marathon’s (MARA) stock fell 0.42% to $19.01 on April 25 but has rallied 4.5% in after-hours trading following the announcement, according to Google Finance.

Marathon has increased more than 15% since the fourth Bitcoin halving event occurred at block 840,000 on April 20 — an increase consistent with other miners in the industry.

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While the block subsidy halved to 3.125 Bitcoin — worth $200,000 at current prices — miners benefitted from a record-setting $128 average transaction fee on the halving day, earning more than they usually were pre-halving.

Much of the initial demand at block 840,000 came from memecoin and nonfungible token enthusiasts competing to inscribe and etch “rare satoshis” via the Runes protocol.

However, transaction fees have since fallen to $28.20, according to YCharts, citing April 24 data.

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