BTC miner Marathon Digital subpoenaed by SEC over securities violation

Marathon Digital (NASDAQ: MARA) received a subpoena from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in April in connection with alleged federal securities violations.

In its Form 10-Q filing, the block reward miner revealed that it received the subpoena on April 10.

“We understand that the SEC may be investigating whether or not there may have been any violations of the federal securities law. We are cooperating with the SEC,” the company stated.

The SEC is investigating whether the miner violated securities laws in October 2020 when it entered into agreements with several parties to design and build a 100 MW data center in Hardin, Montana. Marathon issued 6 million shares of common stock as part of the deal.

This is the second subpoena the miner has received from the securities watchdog. In September 2021, the firm revealed that it had been subpoenaed by the SEC for securities violation claims related to its Hardin facility.

Marathon’s stock price was not impacted by the latest revelation, closing the day 9% higher at $10.22.

The revelation comes just days after the miner revealed new details about its partnership with Zero Two to build the first large-scale BTC mining operation in the Middle East. Under a joint venture named the Abu Dhabi Global Markets, the two plan on splashing $406 million on two mining sites in Abu Dhabi with a combined 250 MW capacity. They claim to have developed custom immersion cooling technology that finally makes mining in the desert climate feasible.

Marathon was one of the large-scale BTC miners that managed to successfully navigate the 2022 ‘crypto contagion.’ Other major miners like Core Scientific (NASDAQ: CORZQ) and Compute North filed for bankruptcy due to their tie-ups with collapsed firms. However, Marathon recorded a $686 million loss as revenue tumbled by 60%.

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