1. Marathon, a Major Mining Firm, Increases Kaspa Mining to Diversify Portfolio
On June 24, 2024, Marathon, a leading Bitcoin mining company, announced on its official website that it is mining Kaspa using Kaspa ASIC devices and plans to expand this mining activity further.
Marathon Digital Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: MARA), a Nasdaq-listed mining company, revealed that it has been mining Kaspa with Kaspa ASICs since September 2023.
Marathon has purchased approximately 60 PH worth of Kaspa ASICs, including the KS3, KS5, and KS5 Pro models. Of these, 30 PH worth of ASICs are already operational at the company’s mining facility in Texas, and the remaining 30 PH are expected to be operational in the third quarter of 2024.
2. Marathon’s Kaspa Mining to Positively Impact Kaspa’s Price
The news that Marathon, a mining giant, has made a substantial investment in Kaspa ASICs and included Kaspa in its official mining portfolio is positively impacting Kaspa’s price.
Kaspa, which was priced at $0.1473 on July 5, 2023, has recovered to $0.17 and continued to hold steady, reaching $0.2051 as of August 1, 2024.
With other major mining firms likely to enter Kaspa mining soon, the Kaspa hashrate is expected to rise sharply in the near future.
3. Surging Kaspa Network Hashrate
With pre-ordered Kaspa ASIC devices from IceRiver and Bitmain now being delivered and large-scale mining companies like Marathon beginning full-scale operations, Kaspa’s network hashrate has surged dramatically in recent weeks.
On July 1, 2024, the Kaspa network’s hashrate was 361 PH, but within just one month, by August 1, 2024, it had increased by approximately 66%, surpassing 600 PH.
This sharp increase in hashrate indicates that the mining difficulty has risen to a level where individual miners with lower hashrates may struggle to cover electricity costs. Kaspa mining is entering a phase where it is increasingly dominated by large-scale enterprises, similar to Bitcoin.
Large mining companies typically operate with long-term strategies and substantial capital reserves, meaning they are likely to hold onto mined Kaspa for several years rather than selling it immediately on the market.
In such a scenario, selling pressure on Kaspa is expected to decrease, while the cost of mining increases, which could positively influence Kaspa’s price.
4. Marathon CEO Fred Thiel Highlights Superior Profitability of Kaspa Mining Compared to Bitcoin
In an online meeting focused on Marathon’s mining strategy, Marathon CEO Fred Thiel mentioned that the profitability of Kaspa mining significantly exceeds that of Bitcoin.
- BTC profit per watt: $0.08
- KAS profit per watt: $1.00
With Kaspa generating $1 in profit per watt, compared to Bitcoin’s $0.08, Kaspa offers 100 times higher profitability. This suggests that Marathon’s Kaspa mining share is likely to expand further in the long term.
Marathon currently holds 90 million Kaspa, and with the planned operation of 30 PH worth of Kaspa ASICs in the second half of the year, Marathon’s Kaspa holdings are expected to increase significantly.
5. Kaspa Price Outlook and Investment Strategy
As of August 1, 2024, Kaspa’s market capitalization stands at approximately $5 billion (around 6.5 trillion KRW), ranking 21st among all cryptocurrencies by market capitalization.
This is about half of the market capitalization of TRON (TRX), which ranks 11th with $11 billion. With Kaspa’s fast GhostDAG protocol, KRC-20, and Rust updates gaining traction, and large-scale mining companies like Marathon actively participating in Kaspa mining, it seems only a matter of time before Kaspa’s price rises from its current $0.2 to $0.4.
Having long hovered around $0.15, Kaspa has now broken through the $0.2 barrier, and its price is expected to stabilize for the time being. However, the pace at which it rises from $0.2 to $0.35 is likely to be faster than when it moved from $0.1 to $0.15.
Kaspa is currently available for direct trading on the domestic cryptocurrency exchange Coinone. If you have extra funds, gradually accumulating Kaspa could yield strong investment returns within the next two years.
