Here’s What You Missed in Crypto This Week

As bitcoin, ethereum and other cryptocurrencies get increasing attention from investors, Wall Street and its traditional banks continue to adjust to the shift. Catch up on this week’s top stories highlighting the intersection of these old guard and new school areas of finance with this recap compiled by The Fly.

MARATHON TO ACQUIRE BITCOIN MINING DATA CENTER: Marathon Digital Holdings (MARA) announced Friday it has entered into a definitive purchase agreement to acquire Applied Digital’s (APLD) bitcoin mining data center in Garden City, Texas, with a name plate capacity of 200 megawatts, for a purchase price of $87.3M, or approximately $437,000 per megawatt. Marathon will pay the purchase price in cash from its balance sheet. This transaction is Marathon’s second major acquisition of data centers dedicated to bitcoin mining in the last four months and increases the amount of self-owned and operated megawatts in Marathon’s bitcoin mining portfolio to 54%. Prior to the acquisition of its first two data centers, which closed in January of this year, Marathon’s bitcoin mining portfolio consisted of 584 megawatts, 3% of which resided on sites directly owned and operated by the Company. Following the close of this acquisition and the anticipated expansion of the site in 2024, Marathon will have increased the number of megawatts in its mining portfolio to 1.1 gigawatts, 54% of which will reside on sites directly owned and operated by the company.. By acquiring this data center, Marathon will take direct ownership of its current on-site operations and will also gain an additional 100 megawatts of capacity in which to expand, 32 megawatts of which are expected to be available as of the closing date and the remainder of which are subject to regulatory approvals. Marathon expects to expand its presence at the site in 2024 by an additional 100 megawatts to accommodate a total of 200-megawatts of capacity dedicated exclusively to Marathon’s bitcoin mining operations. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in the second quarter of 2024. (read more)

BITFARMS PURCHASES ADDITIONAL MINERS: Bitfarms (BITF) announced Monday that the company exercised its previously announced purchase option for 28,000 Bitmain T21 miners and also purchased an additional 19,280 Bitmain T21 miners for $14/TH, 3,888 Bitmain S21 miners and 740 Bitmain S21 hydro miners for $17.50/TH.  “With bitcoin achieving new all-time high prices and having already confirmed the tremendous performance from our T21 miners currently running, Bitfarms acted quickly to secure additional T21 and S21 miners before anticipated hardware price increases. These miners are scheduled to be delivered in 2024, we believe they are sufficient to reach 21 EH/s in 2024 without a redeployment of our older miners, which we intend to liquidate to help offset the cost of new miners,” said Geoff Morphy, President and CEO. (read more)

MICROSTRATEGY BUYS MORE BITCOIN: In a Monday regulatory filing, MicroStrategy (MSTR) announced that, during the period between February 26 and March 10, MicroStrategy acquired approximately 12,000 bitcoins for approximately $821.7M in cash, using $781.1M of proceeds from a private offering of convertible senior notes and $40.6M of excess cash, at an average price of approximately $68,477 per bitcoin. As of March 10, MicroStrategy, together with its subsidiaries, held an aggregate of approximately 205,000 bitcoins, which were acquired at an aggregate purchase price of approximately $6.91B and an average purchase price of approximately $33,706 per bitcoin. (read more)

On Tuesday, TD Cowen raised the firm’s price target on MicroStrategy to $1,560 from $1,220 and kept an Outperform rating on the shares. The company acquired another 12,000 bitcoins for $821.7M, the analyst noted. The firm said this is not a short-term trading strategy and reflects management’s belief that bitcoin will ultimately prove a superior store of value. TD believes MicroStrategy shares remain an attractive vehicle for investors looking to gain bitcoin exposure. (read more)

Additionally, Canaccord raised the firm’s price target on MicroStrategy to $1,810 from $975 and kept a Buy rating on the shares. Canaccord said they are not aware of any other enterprise which has undertaken such a bitcoin acquisition strategy, so this endeavor remains wide open to them without competition. (read more)

BITDEER INITIATED WITH BUY: On Monday, B. Riley initiated coverage of Bitdeer Technologies (BTDR) with a Buy rating and $9 price target. Bitdeer has a diversified digital asset mining platform with operations in the U.S., Norway, and Bhutan, the analyst said. The firm added the company has significantly reduced its electricity costs over the last nine months due in large part to carbon-free, low-cost power at its Bhutan and Norway locations. It views this improvement as well-timed, as the bitcoin halving is now just weeks away. Riley believes Bitdeer is well positioned beyond the halving due to its diversified business model and access to low-cost power. (read more)

Additionally, BTIG initiated coverage of Bitdeer with a Buy rating and $15 price target. Bitdeer is an established global bitcoin miner with a diversified footprint, the analyst said. The firm noted the company has an installed base of competitive power infrastructure, which puts it near the lower end of the cost curve. It sees “ample opportunities for expansion” given Bitdeer’s global footprint. (read more)

Benchmark also initiated coverage of Bitdeer with a Buy rating and $13 price target. Bitdeer is a “relatively new story in the bitcoin mining space” that went public via a SPAC merger in April 2023 and has built a global data center operation with six data centers across the U.S., Norway, and Bhutan, the analyst said. Benchmark views the Singapore-based company as differentiated from its publicly traded peers due to its scalable infrastructure with one of the lowest all-in mining costs in the space, diverse revenue streams, and its recent expansion into artificial intelligence, high-performance computing solutions and the design and manufacture of advanced mining rigs, the analyst added. (read more)

COINBASE UPGRADE: On Tuesday, Raymond James upgraded Coinbase (COIN) to Market Perform from Underperform without a price target. The firm said that while its long-term bias on Coinbase remains negative, it no longer believes an Underperform is the appropriate near-term investment rating. The longer this crypto rally persists the greater the odds that a competitor attacks Coinbase with a disruptive pricing strategy, the analyst said. Raymond James also continues to have substantial doubts about Coinbase’s long-term earnings prospects. With that said, the firm admits to underappreciating the impact that exchange-traded product inflows would have on the valuations of cryptocurrency in general and bitcoin in particular. Until the flows taper and/or reverse, Coinbase’s current share momentum may persist, Raymond James said. (read more)

Meanwhile on Wednesday, JMP Securities raised the firm’s price target on Coinbase to $300 from $220 and kept an Outperform rating on the shares. The firm estimates $220B of flows into spot-bitcoin ETFs over next three years, multiples of what has already been experienced, and Coinbase remains well-positioned if the firm is correct, the analyst said. The firm still sees a compelling upside case even though the stock has been on a tear higher. (read more)

On Friday, JPMorgan raised the firm’s price target on Coinbase to $150 from $95 and kept a Neutral rating on the shares. The analyst sees Ethereum and its native token ether as a substantial contributor to the cryptocurrency ecosystem, developer of blockchain technology, and driver of Coinbase earnings. With ether having rallied 70% year-to- date, surpassing the $4,000 threshold in recent days and outpacing bitcoin returns, the firm evaluated the economic impact to Coinbase’s various businesses. It increased the stock’s price target to reflect the substantial cryptocurrency rally and the positive impact that Ethereum has had on Coinbase revenue. While the new price target is below Coinbase’s current stock price, JPMorgan sees a “rapidly improving” cryptocurrency environment and rising earnings power for Coinbase, even as it thinks the stock “may have gotten ahead of itself.” (read more)

CRYPTO STOCK PLAYS: Publicly traded companies in the space include Bit Digital (BTBT), Coinbase, Core Scientific (CORZ), Greenidge Generation (GREE), Marathon Digital, MicroStrategy, Riot Platforms (RIOT), Stronghold Digital Mining (SDIG) and TeraWulf (WULF).

PRICE ACTION: As of time of writing, bitcoin dropped roughly 1% this week to $68,057 in U.S. dollars, according to CoinDesk.