Bitdeer Briefly Overtakes Marathon in Self-Mining Hashrate After SEALMINER Surge

Bitdeer has briefly wrested the crown for largest self-mining hash rate among public miners, according to a JPMorgan note — a sign of how fast the competitive landscape in Bitcoin mining can shift. JPMorgan analysts led by Reginald Smith reported that Bitdeer’s self-mining capacity now stands at 63.2 EH/s, edging past Marathon Digital (MARA), which last disclosed a self-mining rate of 60.4 EH/s. The gap closed after what the bank called an “impressive” month for Bitdeer: the Singapore-based firm added roughly 8 EH/s as it deployed its proprietary SEALMINER rigs. Why it matters: self-mining hash rate is the compute a miner dedicates to securing the Bitcoin network for its own balance sheet — and higher self-mining capacity typically translates into more BTC mined and greater upside when prices rise. Bitdeer said the recent growth came from rolling out its in-house, energy-efficient SEALMINER hardware, a different strategy than rivals that rely primarily on off-the-shelf gear from suppliers like Bitmain. Operational highlights - Bitdeer mined 668 BTC in January, a 430% year-over-year jump, per the company’s update. - The firm reported 78.1 EH/s in “total hash rate under management,” including 13.0 EH/s that are hosted for customers. Bitdeer still offers hosted mining and subscription plans alongside its self-mining push. - Despite increasing self-mining output, Bitdeer’s BTC holdings fell to 1,530 BTC at month-end from 2,017 in December — a sign of active selling. At roughly $68,000 per coin, those holdings were worth about $104 million. MARA’s strategy shift and the broader context Marathon, long known for aggressive fleet expansion, has been repositioning itself over the past year as a digital infrastructure and AI-focused company. That pivot includes running AI workloads for customers and prioritizing infrastructure services alongside — or instead of — steady increases in self-mining. MARA has also stopped reporting company-wide Bitcoin production figures. Some analysts note that Marathon’s large joint-venture projects in the Middle East could still make it a leader on a consolidated basis, per reporting from The Energy Mag. Bitdeer’s own roadmap hints at a hybrid future: while it continues to deploy SEALMINER units for self-mining, the company said it’s evaluating leasing data centers to deliver AI cloud services to U.S. customers this year. So both miners are dabbling in AI infrastructure, but with different mixes of hardware strategy, customer services, and balance-sheet mining. Bottom line The recent flip in self-mining hash rate is a reminder that market leadership in mining can change quickly — especially as miners diversify into hosting and AI services. Bitdeer’s proprietary-hardware push has given it a near-term edge in self-mining capacity, while Marathon’s pivot toward digital infrastructure and AI could reshape who leads across other measures of scale and revenue going forward. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news