Marathon Patent Group Announces Letter of Intent to Acquire Fastblock Mining in All Stock Transaction

Rhea-AI Summary

Marathon Patent Group (NASDAQ:MARA) announced a Letter of Intent to acquire Fastblock Mining for 8,658,009 shares. This acquisition is set to decrease Bitcoin mining costs from $7,400 to $3,600 per Bitcoin, enhancing profitability. Marathon will gain additional ASIC miners, increasing hashing capacity from 186/Ph to 394/Ph, potentially generating $4 million monthly revenue. The transaction is expected to close by end of September 2020.

Positive

• Decrease in Bitcoin mining costs from $7,400 to $3,600.
• Increased hashing capacity from 186/Ph to 394/Ph.
• Potential monthly revenue of $4 million from increased production.

Negative

• None.

LAS VEGAS, Aug. 26, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Marathon Patent Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:MARA) ("Marathon" or "Company"), today announced it has executed a Letter of Intent to acquire Fastblock Mining for 8,658,009 shares of its Common Stock in a private placement transaction exempt from registration. Once the transaction closes, the Company’s cost to mine Bitcoin will decline from $7,400 per Bitcoin to $3,600 per Bitcoin due to the lower than industry-standard electricity cost of $0.0285 per KwH.

Marathon will also acquire 3,304 ASIC Miners from Fastblock’s customers which will increase our deployed ASIC’s from 2,060 to 5,364 Miners and immediately add 208/Ph of Hashing capacity to our current Hashrate of 186/Ph, increasing our current Hashrate to 394/Ph. If all 16,960 ASIC Miners were deployed today, they would produce 1,639/Ph, which at today’s Bitcoin price and the network’s current Hashrate Difficulty, would produce approximately 16 Bitcoin per day and generate monthly revenue of $4,000,000 per month. With a monthly power cost of $1,127,000, this could result in monthly Gross Profits of more than $2,800,000 per month. The foregoing calculation is based on current Bitcoin prices, and a higher or lower Bitcoin price, would result in higher or lower Gross Profit potential, corresponding directly to the differential in Bitcoin price.

Fastblock Mining was established in 2014 by CEO and Co-Founder Bernardo Schucman, an expert in crypto mining. Mr. Schucman has managed the Company’s Mining as a Service (MaaS) business and built or managed 20 data centers having mined over 50,000 Bitcoins, audited by BDO Trevisan. Mr. Schucman will stay on with the combined Company and become Head of Mining Operations. Fastblock’s executive team, consisting of John Blount and Gustavo Caldeira de Andrada, along with the 14 employees at the Atlanta facility, will continue to work at the Company.

The Company will work with Fastblock’s management team to immediately begin expansion of the current power capacity in the Atlanta, Georgia facility from of 15MwH to 45MwH. The facility may be expanded up to a maximum of 100MwH of power should the Company’s expansion efforts require additional power.

Merrick Okamoto, Marathon Chief Executive Officer, stated, “This acquisition completes the final piece of our transformation. We are now well capitalized, control our own future with our own facility with extremely low power costs, and now we have one of the most experienced Bitcoin mining teams to run our operations.”

Bernardo Schucman, Fastblock Mining Chief Executive Officer, stated, “We have been actively seeking a partner that could help us build one of the largest Bitcoin Mining companies in North America. We are extremely pleased to become part of what Marathon has built and look forward to an amazing future together.”

The transaction is expected to close by the end of September 2020 upon completion of a Definitive Agreement and meeting customary closing conditions, including due diligence review.

Investor Notice

Investing in our securities involves a high degree of risk. Before making an investment decision, you should carefully consider the risks, uncertainties and forward-looking statements described under "Risk Factors" in Item 1A of our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019. If any of these risks were to occur, our business, financial condition or results of operations would likely suffer. In that event, the value of our securities could decline, and you could lose part or all of your investment. The risks and uncertainties we describe are not the only ones facing us. Additional risks not presently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial may also impair our business operations. In addition, our past financial performance may not be a reliable indicator of future performance, and historical trends should not be used to anticipate results in the future. See "Safe Harbor" below.

Future changes in network-wide mining difficulty rate or Bitcoin hashrate may also materially affect the future performance of Marathon's production of Bitcoin.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements made in this press release include forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as “may,” “will,” “plan,” “should,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “continue,” or comparable terminology. Such forward-looking statements are inherently subject to certain risks, trends and uncertainties, many of which the Company cannot predict with accuracy and some of which the Company might not even anticipate and involve factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or suggested. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements and are advised to consider the factors listed above together with the additional factors under the heading “Risk Factors” in the Company's Annual Reports on Form 10-K, as may be supplemented or amended by the Company's Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. The Company assumes no obligation to update or supplement forward-looking statements that become untrue because of subsequent events, new information or otherwise.

Sell- Side Investment Banker

With respect to the above transaction “Buckman, Buckman & Reid Inc. acted as a non-exclusive Investment Advisor to Fastblock Mining. Buckman, Buckman & Reid, Inc. was founded in 1988 as a registered broker dealer with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), Securities Investor Protection Corp. (SIPC) and member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”). BB&R is a full-service securities brokerage firm engaged in a variety of activities, including retail and institutional brokerage, wealth management, investment advisory services, private offerings and other investment banking activities

Name: Jason Assad
Phone: 678-570-6791
Email: Jason@marathonpg.com

FAQ

What is Marathon Patent Group's recent acquisition?

Marathon Patent Group is acquiring Fastblock Mining for 8,658,009 shares, focusing on reducing Bitcoin mining costs.

How will the acquisition impact MARA's Bitcoin mining operations?

The acquisition will decrease mining costs significantly and increase hashing capacity, enhancing profitability.

When is the Fastblock Mining acquisition expected to close?

The acquisition is expected to close by the end of September 2020.

What are the expected financial benefits of the Fastblock Mining acquisition for MARA?

The acquisition is projected to generate approximately $4 million in monthly revenue, with significant gross profits.