MARA is the largest publicly traded bitcoin miner, and it has a large btc holdings of 15,700 btc. It aims to achieve 50 EH/s (mining power) by the end of 2025, from its current 26 EH/s. HIVE, in comparison is smaller than MARA, it currently has about 2.6 EH/s and aims to achieve 6 EH/s. HIVE, unlike MARA, has an AI strategy, and it currently has 2,600 GPUs listed with its HPC platform partners for use on a daily basis. It expects to reach over $25M of annual run rate revenue in Q1 2024 with its AI sales. Its AI business is expected to have stronger margins than its btc mining operations, and this should help to boost overall profitability.
With the halving approaching (April 2024), this will cut miners profitability in half. Having a stable, AI business in tandem with btc mining can help to stabilize revenues, and increase profitability. Overall, MARA is the industry leader in bitcoin mining and has a strong bitcoin holding, which can help its financial position as the price of bitcoin moves higher, however, during the halving, its revenue and profits will be less stable than a company with AI operations. Both strategies have merits, but overall, we prefer the strength of MARA, but if an investor is less convinced on the bitcoin-only strategy, a mix of AI and bitcoin operations can help to mitigate some volatility.
Authors of this answer, directors, partners and/or officers of 5i Research and/or affiliated companies have a financial or other interest in MARA.