Marathon Digital Holdings (Mara), a company that focuses on Bitcoin mining, recently announced that they are also mining Kaspa, another proof of work (PoW) cryptocurrency.
A press release posted to their website stated that they began ASIC mining Kaspa in their Texas facilities back in September 2023, in order to diversity their holdings.
https://x.com/MarathonDH/status/1806056362532638832
According to their press release, they have already mined $15 million dollars worth of Kaspa:
As of June 25, 2024, Marathon has mined 93 million KAS, which are currently valued at approximately $15 million.
Mixed Reactions
The comments section of the post was a mix of love and hate for Mara. There was lots of hate from bitcoiners, considering that the company is now mining a "shitcoin".
Of course, the community was elated to hear about Mara's decision to contribute their hash power to Kaspa's network, which has been steadily increasing since mid-2023.
The move was especially unsettling for some Bitcoin maximalists, who tweeted that the company was foolish for directing their hash power to something other than Bitcoin.
https://x.com/dotkrueger/status/1806090863048802678
What is Kaspa
Kaspa is a PoW cryptocurrency that utilizes BlockDAG technology, allowing it to produce multiple blocks simultaneously, compared to Bitcoin which only produces one block every 10 minutes on average.
Other cryptocurrency projects that have implemented BlockDAG tech include Nano, IOTA, Constellation DAG, and Hedera Hashgraph. Unlike Kaspa though, these projects all use the proof of stake consensus algorithm, rather than proof of work.
Kaspa's market cap has surged from approximately $30 million to over $4 billion in the span of less than two years. Time will tell if the project can maintain that valuation, but judging from the comments, they do seem to have a solid community.
A Multi-Chain World
Instead of reacting with anger, it may be worth thinking about why a company like Mara would choose to diversify their holdings into cryptocurrencies other that Bitcoin (BTC).
Bitcoin used to make up greater than 95% of the entire cryptocurrency market, but has steadily lost market share to other projects over the span of a decade. While scams do exist and need to be avoided, the undeniable trend is towards a multi-chain world.
If you learned something new from this article, be sure to check out my other posts on crypto and finance here on the HIVE blockchain. You can also follow me on InLeo for more frequent updates.
Until next time...
Resources
Mara Press Release Regarding Kaspa [1]
Marathon Digital Holdings Logo [2]
Kaspa Market Cap Chart [3]