Reuters
- Bitcoin mining companies Riot Blockchain and Marathon Patent Group soared on Monday morning as investors anticipate bitcoin’s continued rally into 2021.
- Both mining companies recently announced purchases of more bitcoin mining equipment. On Monday, Marathon Patent Group purchased 70,000 miners for $170 million from Bitmain.
- The stock moves come after bitcoin hit a new record high on Sunday, jumping past $28,000 for the first time.
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Shares of bitcoin mining companies Riot Blockchain and Marathon Patent Group soared on Monday morning following bitcoin’s record holiday weekend rally.
On Sunday, bitcoin briefly jumped past $28,000, just one day after passing $27,000 for the first time. The cryptocurrency is now trading around $27,240. As bitcoin’s price increases, new bitcoin mining devices become more difficult and expensive to procure. In recent days bitcoin mining companies have announced major purchases of new equipment.
Riot Blockchain gained as much as 18% shortly after the Monday opening bell. Shares jumped to as high as $15.49 after closing at $13.12 on Christmas Eve. Meanwhile, Marathon Patent Group jumped as much as 28% on Monday to $14.
Marathon’s gains come as the company announced its purchasing 70,000 bitcoin mining rigs called Antminers from Bitmain for $170 million. Once the transaction is complete the company will have a mining fleet of over 103,000 miners.
Last week, Riot Blockchain purchased 15,000 miners, according to a company announcement and The Crypto Report. The company anticipates this addition will increase the cost efficiency of bitcoin mining, and keep the Riot competitive as the available supply of mining hardwire becomes increasingly scarce.
Shares of microgrid software company CleanSpark gained as much as 16% on Monday as well. Last week CleanSpark announced its adding 1,000 bitcoin miners to its mining fleet.