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Shares of Mara Holdings (MARA -8.70%) are falling on Monday. The stock dropped 8.6% as of 3:14 p.m. ET and was down as much as 12% earlier in the day. The move comes as the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.3% and 0.4%, respectively.
Mara, a Bitcoin mining company, released its April production update on Monday. Investors were disappointed by the underwhelming numbers.
Bitcoin production is dropping
Mara released its latest Bitcoin production update for April 2025. The company saw the number of Bitcoin blocks "won" -- essentially how many Bitcoins it produced -- fall by 15% month over month. Mara cited increased competition as the global hashrate grew and mining difficulty increased by 8%. That was despite an expansion at its Ohio data center and new operations in North Dakota and Texas.
Difficulty is growing
This is a notable setback for Mara, whose bread and butter is efficiently mining Bitcoin. With the company's new facilities, it increased its own hashrate -- a measure of its ability to mine Bitcoin -- by 5.5%, yet it still saw a significant drop in production. As difficulty rises, the company earns less for the same amount of computing power, squeezing margins and driving down profits.
Investing directly is likely the better choice
Uncertainty in the Bitcoin market remains high and makes miners like Mara a risky bet. I'm suspicious of the premium placed on Mara's stock. If global hashrate continues to grow, Mara will continue to struggle. In my view, investing directly in Bitcoin is the smarter choice for those interested in exposure to the cryptocurrency.
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