MARA Holdings Inc (MARA) 2023 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Marathon Digital Holdings' first-quarter earnings webcast and conference call. I would now like to turn the call over to your host, Chris Brendler, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

女士們先生們，美好的一天，歡迎收看 Marathon Digital Holdings 第一季度收益網絡廣播和電話會議。我現在想把電話轉給你的主持人，投資者關係副總裁克里斯布倫德勒。請繼續。

Thank you, Sherry. Good morning and welcome to Marathon Digital Holdings' first quarter 2023 earnings call. Thank you for joining us for our call today. With me on the call, our Chairman and CEO, Fred Thiel; and our CFO, Hugh Gallagher.

謝謝你，雪莉。早上好，歡迎來到 Marathon Digital Holdings 2023 年第一季度財報電話會議。感謝您今天加入我們的電話會議。與我通話的還有我們的董事長兼首席執行官 Fred Thiel；以及我們的首席財務官 Hugh Gallagher。

Before we get started, I'd like to remind everyone that our prepared remarks may contain forward-looking statements, which are subject to risks and uncertainties, then we may make additional forward-looking statements during the question-and-answer session. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially.

在我們開始之前，我想提醒大家，我們準備好的言論可能包含前瞻性陳述，這些陳述受到風險和不確定性的影響，那麼我們可能會在問答環節中做出額外的前瞻性陳述。這些前瞻性陳述受風險和不確定因素的影響，實際結果可能存在重大差異。

When used in this call, the words anticipate, could, enable, estimate, intend, expect, believe, potential, will, should, project, and similar expressions as they relate to Marathon Digital Holdings are, as such, a forward-looking statement. Please refer to our earnings release for a full recitation of our forward-looking statements.

在本次電話會議中，與 Marathon Digital Holdings 相關的預期、可能、啟用、估計、打算、期望、相信、潛在、將、應該、項目和類似表達等詞語本身是前瞻性聲明.請參閱我們的收益發布，以全面了解我們的前瞻性陳述。

Investors are cautioned that all forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, which may cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated by Marathon at this time. In addition, other risks are more fully described in Marathon's public filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, which can be reviewed at www.sec.gov.

投資者應注意，所有前瞻性陳述都涉及風險和不確定性，這可能導致實際結果與 Marathon 目前預期的結果存在重大差異。此外，Marathon 向美國證券交易委員會提交的公開文件中更全面地描述了其他風險，可在 www.sec.gov 上查閱。

Finally, please note that on today's call, we will refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures in which Marathon excludes certain expenses from its GAAP financial results. Please refer to our company's periodic reports on Form 10-K and 10-Q for a full reconciliation of its non-GAAP performance measures to the most comparable GAAP financial measures.

最後，請注意，在今天的電話會議上，我們將參考某些非 GAAP 財務指標，其中 Marathon 從其 GAAP 財務業績中排除了某些費用。請參閱我們公司關於 10-K 和 10-Q 表格的定期報告，以了解其非 GAAP 績效指標與最具可比性的 GAAP 財務指標的全面對賬。

We'll begin today's call with prepared remarks from Fred and Hugh. After their comments, we will be going through some of the more popular questions from our investors before transferring to a live Q&A with our covering analysts.

我們將從 Fred 和 Hugh 準備好的發言開始今天的電話會議。在他們發表評論之後，我們將回答投資者提出的一些更受歡迎的問題，然後再轉為與我們的分析師進行現場問答。

And with that on the way, I'm going to turn the call over to Fred to kick things off. Fred?

在路上，我將把電話轉給弗雷德來開始。弗雷德？

Thank you, Chris. We started 2023 with two primary goals for the year. The first is to energize our previously purchased mining rigs to reach our target of 23 exahashes by the middle of this year, and the second is to optimize our performance to become more effective and more efficient.

謝謝你，克里斯。我們從 2023 年開始製定了今年的兩個主要目標。首先是為我們之前購買的礦機注入活力，以在今年年中之前達到 23 個 exahash 的目標，其次是優化我們的性能以變得更加有效和高效。

As our monthly production reports demonstrate, we've been making notable progress executing on both of those initiatives. After weathering a tumultuous 2022 that tested the resilience of our entire industry, we started 2023 with our most productive quarter to date.

正如我們的月度生產報告所顯示的那樣，我們在執行這兩項計劃方面都取得了顯著進展。在經歷了考驗我們整個行業彈性的動蕩的 2022 年之後，我們以迄今為止最高產的季度開始了 2023 年。

During Q1, we increased our operational hash rate 64%, from 7 exahashes on January 1 to 11.5 exahashes on March 31. By growing our hash rate faster than the rest of the network and by improving our uptime, we also increased our bitcoin production. We produced a record 2,195 bitcoin during the first three months of this year, which is up 41% increase from the prior quarter.

在第一季度，我們將運營哈希率提高了 64%，從 1 月 1 日的 7 exahashes 增加到 3 月 31 日的 11.5 exahashes。通過比網絡其他部分更快地提高我們的哈希率並提高正常運行時間，我們還增加了比特幣產量。今年前三個月，我們生產了創紀錄的 2,195 個比特幣，比上一季度增長了 41%。

April's production report, which we published on May 2, shows that these positive trends have continued into Q2 as well. Thanks to the hard work of our team and our hosting partners, Marathon's operational hash rate is now over 14 exahashes, double where we started the year and 61% of the way to our 23 exahash target. Additionally, our installed hash rate, which we define as our operational hash rate plus the hash rate that has been installed but not yet energized, is approximately 18 exahashes, nearly 80% of the way to our goal.

我們在 5 月 2 日發布的 4 月份生產報告顯示，這些積極趨勢也一直持續到第二季度。由於我們團隊和託管合作夥伴的辛勤工作，Marathon 的運營哈希率現已超過 14 exahash，是我們年初的兩倍，是我們 23 exahash 目標的 61%。此外，我們安裝的哈希率（我們定義為我們的操作哈希率加上已安裝但尚未激活的哈希率）大約為 18 exahash，接近我們目標的 80％。

Given our recent progress, we believe we are still on track to achieve 23 exahashes of capacity near the middle of this year. As a reminder, the miners have all been paid for, so the primary gating items at this point are the ongoing construction of the facilities, the pace of installations, and some pending regulatory approvals to energize one facility where miners have already been installed in Texas. Given what we know today, the path to 23 exahashes remains clear and we believe the target is in sight.

鑑於我們最近取得的進展，我們相信我們仍有望在今年年中實現 23 exahash 的容量。提醒一下，所有礦工都已付款，因此此時的主要門控項目是正在進行的設施建設、安裝速度，以及一些未決的監管批准，以便為德克薩斯州已安裝礦工的設施提供能源.鑑於我們今天所知道的，通往 23 個 exahash 的道路仍然清晰，我們相信目標就在眼前。

Achieving 23 extra hashes will be a milestone for Marathon and for our industry as it will establish us as the largest publicly traded bitcoin miner in North America. But this industry moves fast, and to maintain our position as the industry leader, we must constantly push the pace of innovation.

實現 23 個額外哈希將成為 Marathon 和我們行業的里程碑，因為它將使我們成為北美最大的公開交易比特幣礦工。但這個行業發展很快，要保持行業領先地位，就必須不斷推動創新的步伐。

In a few minutes, I'll discuss some of the ways in which our organization is evolving. But first, I'm going to turn the call over to Hugh to discuss our financial results for the first quarter.

幾分鐘後，我將討論我們組織發展的一些方式。但首先，我要把電話轉給休來討論我們第一季度的財務業績。

As you all know, Hugh will be retiring shortly after this earnings call. Hugh has been a valuable member of our team since he joined us a year ago. He was instrumental in developing our finance strategy, building our finance team, and helping us transition from an early-stage company into a more sophisticated organization. So on behalf of everyone at Marathon, thank you, Hugh, for your service. And with that, I'll let you take it away. Hugh?

眾所周知，Hugh 將在本次財報電話會議後不久退休。自一年前加入我們以來，Hugh 一直是我們團隊的重要成員。他在製定我們的財務戰略、組建我們的財務團隊以及幫助我們從早期公司過渡到更成熟的組織方面發揮了重要作用。因此，休代表馬拉鬆的每一個人，感謝你的服務。然後，我會讓你把它拿走。休？

Oh, thanks, Fred. And thanks for the kind remarks, I appreciate it. It's been a pleasure to work here at Marathon and I'm proud of what the team has accomplished during my time here. And I really do wish everyone at Marathon the best going forward.

哦，謝謝，弗雷德。感謝您的客氣話，我很感激。很高興在 Marathon 工作，我為團隊在我任職期間所取得的成就感到自豪。我真的希望馬拉鬆的每個人都能取得最好的進步。

But now, let's focus on the results for the quarter, and I'll take you through them briefly. Improving bitcoin prices, increased production, and the commencement of our previously mentioned plan to start selling bitcoin as a means of generating cash, were the main drivers of our operating results for the first quarter.

但現在，讓我們關注本季度的結果，我將簡要介紹一下。提高比特幣價格、增加產量以及我們之前提到的開始銷售比特幣作為產生現金的手段的計劃的開始，是我們第一季度經營業績的主要驅動力。

Revenues for the quarter were $51.1 million, slightly below prior-year revenues of $51.7 million, as a 74% increase in bitcoin production year over year was more than offset by lower average bitcoin prices compared to last year's quarter. We recorded a net loss of $7.2 million, or $0.05 per share in the quarter, compared with a net loss of $12.9 million, or $0.12 per share in the prior-year quarter.

本季度收入為 5110 萬美元，略低於上年同期的 5170 萬美元，因為比特幣產量同比增長 74%，但被與去年同期相比較低的比特幣平均價格所抵消。本季度我們錄得淨虧損 720 萬美元，即每股虧損 0.05 美元，而去年同期淨虧損為 1290 萬美元，即每股虧損 0.12 美元。

The $5.6 million favorable variance in net loss year over year was driven by three main factors. First, we realized the gains on sales of the digital asset associated with our sales program that was $17.6 million. Second, impairment of digital assets improved by $11.5 million year over year as bitcoin prices were generally increasing during this quarter. And third, you'll remember last year, we had an investment fund with bitcoin in it and it had a $5.3 million unrealized loss last year. We have no such fund this year, so we benefited from the absence of that loss.

同比淨虧損 560 萬美元的有利差異是由三個主要因素驅動的。首先，我們實現了與銷售計劃相關的數字資產銷售收益 1760 萬美元。其次，由於本季度比特幣價格普遍上漲，數字資產減值同比減少 1150 萬美元。第三，你會記得去年，我們有一個投資基金，裡面有比特幣，去年有 530 萬美元的未實現虧損。我們今年沒有這樣的基金，所以我們從沒有損失中受益。

Partially offsetting these favorable variances was a reduction in total margin of $25.3 million, and to a lesser extent, the impact of modest income tax expense in the current quarter versus a large benefit in the prior year that was $4.3 million.

部分抵消了這些有利差異的是總利潤減少 2530 萬美元，並且在較小程度上抵消了本季度適度所得稅費用的影響，而去年的收益為 430 萬美元。

Adjusted EBITDA improved to $18.6 million from $9.8 million in the prior-year period, and the drivers of adjusted EBITDA were similar to what I already mentioned, including the gain on sale of digital assets, reduction in impairment, the absence of the unrealized loss. And those benefits were offset by a lower margin, excluding DNA, because we're talking about EBITDA of $21.5 million.

調整後的 EBITDA 從去年同期的 980 萬美元增加到 1860 萬美元，調整後的 EBITDA 的驅動因素與我已經提到的相似，包括出售數字資產的收益、減值減少、未實現損失的情況。這些收益被較低的利潤率所抵消，不包括 DNA，因為我們談論的 EBITDA 為 2150 萬美元。

Turning to our bitcoin holdings, cash flow, and liquidity. Cash and cash equivalents increased to $12.4 million during the quarter to $124.9 million at March 31. Also at March 31, we held 11,466 bitcoin, with a carrying value of $189.1 million on the balance sheet. Fair value of a single bitcoin was $28,474, and the fair value of our holdings was approximately $326.5 million.

轉向我們的比特幣持有量、現金流和流動性。截至 3 月 31 日，現金和現金等價物在本季度增加到 1240 萬美元，達到 1.249 億美元。同樣在 3 月 31 日，我們持有 11,466 比特幣，資產負債表上的賬面值為 1.891 億美元。單個比特幣的公允價值為 28,474 美元，我們持有的公允價值約為 3.265 億美元。

We reduced our leverage during the quarter when we repaid the entire $50 million outstanding on the term loan facility with Silvergate Bank and terminated both the term loan facility and the revolving credit facility. Although there were no prepayment penalties associated with this transaction, we did record a small loss on extinguishment of debt of $0.3 million. This is primarily related to the write-off of unamortized debt issuance costs related to those facilities.

當我們償還 Silvergate Bank 的全部 5000 萬美元定期貸款融資並終止定期貸款融資和循環信貸融資時，我們在本季度降低了槓桿率。雖然沒有與此交易相關的預付款罰款，但我們確實記錄了 30 萬美元的債務清償損失。這主要與註銷與這些設施相關的未攤銷債務發行成本有關。

We sold 2,900 bitcoins during the quarter, realizing cash proceeds of $62.6 million. These proceeds were utilized to fund cash operating expenses during the quarter, including cost of revenues for energy hosting and other cash operating expenses and certain deposits we made in conjunction with the ramp up of production activities. So all in all, a good quarter for the balance sheet as we increased our cash position by over $12 million, while also reducing leverage by $50 million.

我們在本季度出售了 2,900 個比特幣，實現了 6,260 萬美元的現金收益。這些收益用於支付本季度的現金運營費用，包括能源託管的收入成本和其他現金運營費用，以及我們為提高生產活動而支付的某些存款。因此，總而言之，這是資產負債表的一個好季度，因為我們的現金頭寸增加了超過 1200 萬美元，同時還減少了 5000 萬美元的槓桿率。

As mentioned in our April production report, our cash balance at April 30 was $123.5 million, and we held 11,568 Bitcoin with a fair value of $319.2 million. So our most recent update is not that much different than the March results I just went through on the balance sheet.

正如我們在 4 月份的生產報告中提到的，我們在 4 月 30 日的現金餘額為 1.235 億美元，我們持有 11,568 個比特幣，公允價值為 3.192 億美元。所以我們最近的更新與我剛剛在資產負債表上看到的 3 月份結果沒有太大不同。

We expect our future bitcoin holdings will generally increase but will fluctuate depending upon operating and market conditions. We intend to add to our bitcoin holdings primarily through our production activities. And we will also continue to sell bitcoin as a means of generating cash to fund monthly operating costs and for general corporate purposes.

我們預計我們未來的比特幣持有量將普遍增加，但會根據運營和市場狀況而波動。我們打算主要通過我們的生產活動來增加我們的比特幣持有量。我們還將繼續出售比特幣作為產生現金的手段，以資助每月的運營成本和一般企業用途。

And that completes my update. So I'll now turn it back over to Fred, who will talk a little bit more about our operations and our ongoing plans. Fred?

這完成了我的更新。所以我現在將它轉回給弗雷德，他將更多地談論我們的運營和我們正在進行的計劃。弗雷德？

Thanks, Hugh, and thanks again for all your hard work.

謝謝，Hugh，再次感謝您的辛勤工作。

To ensure we maintain our leading position in the bitcoin mining industry, we need to constantly push the pace of innovation. It's easy to view bitcoin mining as commoditized. All miners convert electricity into economic value in the form of bitcoin. The commodity we all produce may be fungible, but the techniques we implement to produce that commodity, the technologies we develop and deploy, make all the difference.

為確保我們在比特幣挖礦行業保持領先地位，我們需要不斷推進創新步伐。很容易將比特幣挖礦視為商品化。所有礦工都以比特幣的形式將電力轉化為經濟價值。我們生產的商品可能是可替代的，但我們為生產該商品而實施的技術，我們開發和部署的技術，讓一切變得不同。

At Marathon, we have always believed in staying ahead of the technology curve because it allows us to optimize our performance and further differentiate Marathon from our competitors. We have continuously invested in the latest, most energy efficient mining rigs, and we're the only publicly traded miner that runs its own mining pool. Now, we're further leaning into this strategy to develop new proprietary mining techniques and own more of the process.

在 Marathon，我們始終相信在技術曲線上保持領先，因為它使我們能夠優化我們的性能並進一步將 Marathon 與我們的競爭對手區分開來。我們不斷投資於最新、最節能的採礦設備，我們是唯一一家運營自己的採礦池的上市礦工。現在，我們進一步傾向於這一戰略，以開發新的專有採礦技術並擁有更多的流程。

Vertical integration is a popular term in our industry. And when most people in the industry use that term, they're really referencing power in data centers. We take a different approach.

垂直整合是我們行業的一個流行術語。當業內大多數人使用該術語時，他們實際上指的是數據中心的功率。我們採取不同的方法。

Marathon is the only bitcoin miner that is vertically integrating the bitcoin mining technology stack. We're the only miner that either directly controls or influences each aspect of the bitcoin mining tech stack, all the way from the mining pool down to the ASIC. This includes our mining software, firmware, hardware, and infrastructure. Bitcoin mining is a game of speed and efficiency, and we believe technological innovation is essential to maintaining an edge in both.

Marathon 是唯一一家垂直整合比特幣挖礦技術堆棧的比特幣礦工。我們是唯一直接控製或影響比特幣挖礦技術堆棧各個方面的礦工，從礦池一直到 ASIC。這包括我們的挖礦軟件、固件、硬件和基礎設施。比特幣挖礦是速度和效率的遊戲，我們相信技術創新對於在這兩個方面保持優勢至關重要。

Let me give you some examples of our key competitive advantages. We operate our own mining pool, MaraPool, which reduces latency and allows us to orchestrate how and when miners working to solve a block. Our team has built custom controller boards, which gives us flexibility over firmware. We have always invested in the latest and most efficient mining hardware, and we maintain good relationships with manufacturers.

讓我舉一些例子來說明我們的主要競爭優勢。我們運營自己的礦池 MaraPool，它可以減少延遲並允許我們協調礦工解決區塊的方式和時間。我們的團隊已經構建了自定義控制器板，這使我們可以靈活地控制固件。我們一直投資於最新、最高效的挖礦硬件，我們與製造商保持著良好的關係。

Once fully deployed, we expect to be one of the most energy efficient bitcoin miners at scale as 66% of our hash rate will come from S19 XPs, which are 30% more energy efficient than the prior generation. And we've been designing, co-developing, and deploying immersion cooling infrastructure that reduces maintenance and improves efficiency. In fact, our technology expertise is one of the primary reasons we were selected by Zero Two to help develop and operate the first large-scale immersion bitcoin mining facilities in the Middle East, the details of which we disclosed in a press release earlier this week.

一旦完全部署，我們預計將成為最節能的比特幣礦工之一，因為我們 66% 的哈希率將來自 S19 XP，其能效比上一代高 30%。我們一直在設計、共同開發和部署浸入式冷卻基礎設施，以減少維護並提高效率。事實上，我們的技術專長是我們被零二選中幫助開發和運營中東第一個大型浸入式比特幣挖礦設施的主要原因之一，我們在本週早些時候的新聞稿中披露了相關細節.

While our first domestic deployment of immersion cooling came online last month at one of Applied Digital's facilities in North Dakota, we had already been successfully running immersion in Abu Dhabi as part of a pilot program with Zero Two. Due to its climate, the Middle East is an incredibly challenging place to mine bitcoin. This part of the world should have been -- should be a haven for bitcoin miners because it has an abundance of stranded sustainable energy, but the climatology, the heat, and the dust has made deploying air cooled miners in the region infeasible.

上個月，我們在北達科他州 Applied Digital 的一個設施中首次在國內部署浸入式冷卻，而作為零二試點計劃的一部分，我們已經在阿布扎比成功運行浸入式冷卻。由於氣候原因，中東是開採比特幣極具挑戰性的地方。世界的這一部分本來應該是——應該成為比特幣礦工的避風港，因為它擁有豐富的擱淺可持續能源，但氣候、熱量和灰塵使得在該地區部署風冷礦工變得不可行。

Typically, air cooled miners require cleaning and maintenance approximately every 30 days, even in favorable weather. In unfavorable weather, air-cooled operations need almost daily attention. However, with the immersion pilot we co-developed, the miners ran for over 100 days without any maintenance needed, despite being in one of the most challenging climates imaginable for bitcoin mining.

通常，風冷礦機大約每 30 天需要清潔和維護一次，即使在有利的天氣下也是如此。在不利的天氣中，風冷操作幾乎需要每天關注。然而，借助我們共同開發的浸入式試驗機，礦機運行了 100 多天而無需任何維護，儘管這裡是比特幣挖礦可以想像到的最具挑戰性的氣候之一。

Immersion, like the type we're deploying that reduces maintenance and runs effectively in harsh climates, suddenly opens the door to several new opportunities, the first of which for Marathon is in Abu Dhabi. With the pilot successfully complete, we were selected by Zero two to be their partner in developing and operating the first large-scale immersion bitcoin mining facilities in the Middle East.

沉浸式體驗，就像我們正在部署的減少維護並在惡劣氣候下有效運行的類型一樣，突然為幾個新機會打開了大門，馬拉鬆的第一個機會是在阿布扎比。隨著試點的成功完成，我們被 Zero two 選擇為他們的合作夥伴，在中東開發和運營第一個大型浸入式比特幣挖礦設施。

The joint venture we are establishing is for two sites, a 50-megawatt site in the port zone of Mina Zayed and a 200-megawatt site in Masdar City, which is the sustainability hub for Abu Dhabi. Both sites are expected to be operational before the end of this year.

我們正在建立的合資企業有兩個站點，一個位於 Mina Zayed 港口區的 50 兆瓦站點和一個位於阿布扎比可持續發展中心馬斯達爾城的 200 兆瓦站點。這兩個站點預計將在今年年底前投入運營。

In aggregate, they will generate approximately 7 exahashes of security for the bitcoin network. And through the JV, we will represent 20% of the total project. And just to be clear, our 20% is additive to our 23-exhahash target. While we are intently focused on optimizing the mining tech stack, innovation doesn't just come from technology, it can also be expressed in business models. And the joint venture we entered into with Zero Two is the first example of this evolution.

總的來說，它們將為比特幣網絡產生大約 7 exahash 的安全性。通過合資企業，我們將佔整個項目的 20%。需要明確的是，我們的 20% 是對我們 23-exhahash 目標的補充。雖然我們專注於優化挖礦技術堆棧，但創新不僅僅來自技術，還可以體現在商業模式中。我們與零二的合資企業就是這種演變的第一個例子。

In 2021 and 2022, our strategy was simple. It was to be asset light, to outsource the muscle of our operations and to remain as lean and scrappy as possible. By outsourcing, we were able to grow faster than our competition as it allowed us to invest most of our capital almost exclusively in mining rigs, which are revenue-generating assets. But we are also able to avoid many of the pitfalls that other miners fell into last year, including over leveraging their business with debt, or being upside down on power contracts.

2021 年和 2022 年，我們的戰略很簡單。它是輕資產，將我們的運營力量外包，並儘可能保持精簡和鬥志旺盛。通過外包，我們能夠比競爭對手更快地增長，因為它使我們能夠將大部分資本幾乎完全投資於採礦設備，這是創收資產。但我們也能夠避免其他礦工去年陷入的許多陷阱，包括通過債務過度利用他們的業務，或者在電力合同上倒掛。

This strategy was essential to building the foundation on which we now stand and from which we are growing this year. But all businesses evolve. Startups outsource initially, but once they've established a proof of concept and found product market fit, they begin to bring more resources in-house to optimize their processes and they begin to iterate on their business model to become more effective and ideally more profitable in the long run.

這一戰略對於建立我們現在所處的基礎以及我們今年的發展至關重要。但所有企業都在發展。初創公司最初外包，但一旦他們建立了概念證明並找到了適合市場的產品，他們便開始在內部引入更多資源來優化流程，並開始迭代其業務模型以變得更有效，理想情況下更有利可圖從長遠來看。

Marathon is currently going through this growth phase. While public, we were essentially a startup at the beginning of last year. And now, after proving out our initial thesis, we are evolving. We're taking what we learned over the past two years and we're starting to build some of the muscle in-house. This muscle includes several new team members across operations, strategy, growth, and technology. It also includes designing and investing in the technologies of the future like immersion cooling, as well as taking a more active role in the development and management of some of our current and future deployments.

馬拉松目前正在經歷這個成長階段。雖然是公開的，但我們在去年初基本上是一家初創公司。現在，在證明了我們最初的論點之後，我們正在不斷發展。我們正在吸取過去兩年的經驗教訓，並開始在內部打造一些實力。這支力量包括幾名橫跨運營、戰略、增長和技術的新團隊成員。它還包括設計和投資未來的技術，如浸入式冷卻，以及在我們當前和未來的一些部署的開發和管理中發揮更積極的作用。

To be clear, we aren't abandoning asset light; we have no intention of losing our agility. But we do believe that diversification is integral to creating a more resilient business. We've been applying this principle to our operations over the past year by adding new hosting providers and deploying our mining rigs in different geographies. Now, with the joint venture with Zero Two, we're starting to apply it to our business model.

需要明確的是，我們並沒有放棄輕資產。我們無意失去我們的敏捷性。但我們確實相信，多元化是創建更具彈性的業務不可或缺的一部分。在過去的一年裡，我們通過增加新的託管服務提供商並在不同地區部署我們的採礦設備，將這一原則應用於我們的運營。現在，通過與零二的合資企業，我們開始將其應用到我們的商業模式中。

When done correctly, joint venturing can be a synergistic as it allows each party to play to their strengths. We have deep technical mining expertise and experience with a variety of mining sites, business models, and geographies. Zero Two is a local, well capitalized collaborator, with a regional expertise, a proven record of infrastructure development. For us, this was an ideal match.

如果操作得當，合資企業可以發揮協同作用，因為它允許各方發揮各自的優勢。我們擁有深厚的採礦技術專業知識和在各種採礦地點、商業模式和地理位置方面的經驗。 Zero Two 是本地的、資本充足的合作者，具有區域專業知識和基礎設施開發的可靠記錄。對我們來說，這是一場理想的比賽。

Each deployment comes with its own unique challenges and requires a curated approach. We believe in staying flexible and adapting to the circumstances to ensure the best outcome. And technological innovation and adaptation are in our DNA, and we believe they will remain key components of our future as we continue to pursue to expand Marathon's footprint and diversify our operations.

每個部署都有其獨特的挑戰，需要精心策劃的方法。我們相信保持靈活性和適應環境以確保最佳結果。技術創新和適應是我們的 DNA，我們相信隨著我們繼續擴大 Marathon 的足跡並使我們的業務多樣化，它們仍將是我們未來的關鍵組成部分。

We're becoming more diversified, more sophisticated, and as a result, more resilient. We're smarter now than we were a year ago, and ultimately, in a much better position. We're a company with a strong balance sheet, a roadmap to hitting our primary target of 23 exahashes of capacity near the middle of this year, a growing team of subject matter experts, a technology stack that is becoming increasingly more vertically integrated and efficient, and a unique approach to mining, that's allowing us to effectively expand our hash rate to support the bitcoin network.

我們正變得更加多元化、更加成熟，因此也更加有彈性。我們現在比一年前更聰明，最終處於更好的位置。我們是一家擁有強大資產負債表的公司，在今年年中實現 23 exahash 容量的主要目標的路線圖，不斷壯大的主題專家團隊，以及越來越垂直整合和高效的技術堆棧，以及一種獨特的挖掘方法，這使我們能夠有效地擴展我們的哈希率以支持比特幣網絡。

At Marathon, we're all working extremely hard to ensure that we energize our portfolio of mining rigs on schedule, and that we optimize our operations to become not just one of the largest, but one of the most energy efficient and most technologically advanced bitcoin mining companies in the world.

在馬拉松，我們都非常努力地工作，以確保我們按計劃為我們的採礦設備組合提供動力，並優化我們的運營，不僅成為最大的比特幣之一，而且成為最節能和技術最先進的比特幣之一世界上的礦業公司。

And with that, I'll turn it back to Chris so we can begin with questions. Chris?

然後，我會把它轉回給克里斯，這樣我們就可以從問題開始了。克里斯？

Thanks, Fred. At this time, we're going to commence the Q&A section of today's call. We'll start by answering some of the questions submitted by investors on our Q&A platform.

謝謝，弗雷德。此時，我們將開始今天電話會議的問答部分。我們將首先回答投資者在我們的問答平台上提交的一些問題。

Our first question comes from Brandon B. What is the minimum bitcoin price that would allow you to sustain for profitability based on current operating costs? Fred?

我們的第一個問題來自 Brandon B。根據當前的運營成本，允許您維持盈利的最低比特幣價格是多少？弗雷德？

So the breakeven price, if you would, of bitcoin mining is very dependent on global hash rate and current energy prices and obviously the price of bitcoin. So it really is a very complex kind of question. But essentially, we're constantly optimizing our operations to make sure that we're operating with the right mix of hash rate depending on the energy cost and the price of bitcoin. So I think as you look at bitcoin pricing, you can look in the rearview mirror at where our average cost to mine at bitcoin was in Q1.

因此，如果你願意的話，比特幣挖礦的盈虧平衡價格在很大程度上取決於全球哈希率和當前能源價格，顯然還有比特幣的價格。所以這確實是一個非常複雜的問題。但本質上，我們不斷優化我們的運營，以確保我們根據能源成本和比特幣價格以正確的哈希率組合運營。所以我認為當你看比特幣定價時，你可以看看後視鏡，看看我們在第一季度開採比特幣的平均成本。

And as you roll forward, an expectation would be essentially to look at growth in the global hash rate and what projections for energy pricing are going forward, which, for the summer months, we may see obviously some seasonality in energy pricing in certain markets due to just weather driving more demand for energy or less. But our expectation is that, obviously, more hash rate will continue to come online, and so, that breakeven point will continue to edge up month by month.

隨著你向前推進，一個預期主要是關注全球哈希率的增長以及未來能源定價的預測，對於夏季月份，我們可能會明顯看到某些市場的能源定價存在一些季節性，因為只是天氣驅動更多或更少的能源需求。但我們的預期是，顯然，更多的哈希率將繼續上線，因此，盈虧平衡點將繼續逐月上升。

Great, okay. Our next question comes from Jacob B. Yes, are we still on course to achieve our 23-exahash-per-second target by June or July? And what obstacles may get in the way of that goal? Also, what is the cause of our hash rate run over the last week. We've hit block numbers we've never seen. What's the catalyst? Another one for you, Fred.

太好了，好吧。我們的下一個問題來自 Jacob B。是的，我們是否仍有望在 6 月或 7 月之前實現每秒 23 個 exahash 的目標？實現該目標可能會遇到哪些障礙？另外，上週我們的哈希率運行的原因是什麼。我們遇到了從未見過的區塊編號。催化劑是什麼？另一個給你，弗雷德。

Yeah, thank you. So we're still on course to hit our 23 exahashes we reiterated throughout this call by the middle of this year. What obstacles can get in the way of that goal? At this point, it's really down to some final construction that's going on, which we don't foresee currently any challenges with. And then just regulatory approval of one site in Texas where we have machines installed currently and we're just waiting for energization.

是的，謝謝。因此，我們仍有望在今年年中之前達到我們在整個電話會議中重申的 23 個 exahash。什麼障礙會阻礙這個目標？在這一點上，它真的取決於正在進行的一些最終建設，我們目前沒有預見到任何挑戰。然後只是在德克薩斯州的一個站點獲得監管批准，我們目前已經安裝了機器，我們只是在等待通電。

Those are the only two things that we see as any potential risks there. Obviously, all the machines have been purchased; virtually, all of them have been delivered. And what can be installed has been installed, and the rest are just waiting for buildings to be completed. So we're feeling very confident about that.

這是我們認為存在潛在風險的僅有的兩件事。顯然，所有的機器都已經購買了；實際上，所有這些都已交付。而能裝的都裝了，剩下的就等樓房完工了。所以我們對此感到非常有信心。

If you think about the hash rate run over the last week, many of you are familiar with the luck factor that exists within bitcoin mining, and over time, in theory, your luck should even out. I'd love to say that it's because our technology stack is performing better than expected, but I'm not going to make that comment quite yet until we have more historical data to go from.

如果你想想上週的哈希率，你們中的許多人都熟悉比特幣挖礦中存在的運氣因素，並且隨著時間的推移，理論上，你的運氣應該會平衡。我很想說這是因為我們的技術堆棧表現好於預期，但在我們有更多的歷史數據可供參考之前，我不會發表評論。

But we've been very pleased with the results, needless to say. And certainly, based on what everybody can see in the minpool by looking at how MaraPool is performing, we're definitely performing north of expectations from just pure hash rate and average BTC produced per exahash numbers that many of the analysts put out there.

但不用說，我們對結果非常滿意。當然，根據每個人通過查看 MaraPool 的表現可以在 minpool 中看到的情況，我們的表現肯定超出了純哈希率和許多分析師提出的每個 exahash 產生的平均 BTC 數字的預期。

Great, okay. Our next question comes from [Chaitre] A. Are you planning on selling any bitcoin soon? If not, do you have enough capital for the operations for the next four years?

太好了，好吧。我們的下一個問題來自 [Chaitre] A。你打算很快出售任何比特幣嗎？如果沒有，您是否有足夠的資金用於未來四年的運營？

I can take that. We sell bitcoin to cover operating expenses as we've done all this year. Essentially, we'll cover energy costs, operating expenses. And then any Bitcoin that's left after that, we save, put on the balance sheet, and huddle.

我可以接受。正如我們今年所做的那樣，我們出售比特幣來支付運營費用。本質上，我們將支付能源成本、運營費用。然後剩下的任何比特幣，我們保存，放在資產負債表上，然後擠在一起。

So every month, we've been increasing our holdings to some degree or another, other than potentially in January when we sold more bitcoin than we produced. But as you look at our capital requirements, going forward, we've essentially fully funded the 23 exahash growth target for this year. We've funded the vast majority of the Abu Dhabi project as well.

所以每個月，我們都在某種程度上增加了我們的持有量，除了可能在 1 月份，當時我們賣出的比特幣比我們生產的多。但是當你看看我們的資本要求時，展望未來，我們基本上已經為今年 23 exahash 的增長目標提供了全部資金。我們也資助了阿布扎比項目的絕大部分。

So barring additional expansion in the back half of this year and early next year, we're pretty well set from CapEx spend perspective at this point. I'm not going to comment on the next four years because that's a whole cycle in this industry and we'll have to see how things go.

因此，除非在今年下半年和明年初進一步擴張，否則我們目前從資本支出的角度來看已經做好了準備。我不打算對未來四年發表評論，因為這是這個行業的一個完整週期，我們必須看看情況如何發展。

Yeah. Sounds good. Okay. Let's go to Brad M. Yes, countries like the US and Sweden are implementing or attempting to implement large tax penalties on bitcoin miners. What are you doing to avoid fight or position the company against these proposed and passed discriminatory taxes?

是的。聽起來不錯。好的。讓我們去 Brad M。是的，美國和瑞典等國家正在或試圖對比特幣礦工實施巨額稅收處罰。您正在做什麼來避免與這些提議和通過的歧視性稅收作鬥爭或使公司處於不利地位？

Well, we have no operations in Sweden so we're not very active in that area. And to be fair, in Sweden, what they did was essentially remove tax abatement that they had and essentially removed the discount. And so, those energy rates went back to what they had been previously. And that affected the broad data center space completely; it wasn't just something targeting bitcoin miners.

好吧，我們在瑞典沒有業務，所以我們在那個領域不是很活躍。公平地說，在瑞典，他們所做的基本上是取消他們擁有的減稅措施，並基本上取消折扣。因此，這些能量消耗率又回到了之前的水平。這完全影響了廣泛的數據中心空間；它不僅僅是針對比特幣礦工的東西。

In the US, it's a very different story. The Biden administration's proposal of an excise tax on energy used by bitcoin mining is another example of this industry being specifically targeted in an unfair way. If you were to think about different ways to save on energy wastage, the vast majority of energy used in this country is used for heating and cooling of homes.

在美國，這是一個非常不同的故事。拜登政府提議對比特幣開採所用能源徵收消費稅，這是該行業以不公平方式專門針對的另一個例子。如果您考慮採用不同的方式來減少能源浪費，就會發現這個國家使用的絕大部分能源都用於家庭供暖和製冷。

And I think the government should think more seriously about if you're going to restrict an industry, then restrict instead the wasting of energy across all industries. If you want to reduce carbon emissions in this country, bitcoin miners are the biggest users of renewable energy of any industry and consume less than 1% of the energy generated globally. And you should focus instead, if I were the administration, on fossil fuel industry, which, when it comes to our electrical energy generation, coal is still 19% of our energy generation and focus there as opposed to targeting the bitcoin mining industries.

而且我認為政府應該更認真地考慮如果你要限制一個行業，然後限制所有行業的能源浪費。如果你想減少這個國家的碳排放，比特幣礦工是所有行業中可再生能源的最大用戶，消耗的能源不到全球產生的能源的 1%。如果我是政府，你應該把重點放在化石燃料行業，當涉及到我們的發電時，煤炭仍然占我們能源生產的 19%，並且應該把重點放在化石燃料行業，而不是針對比特幣採礦業。

This is clearly just a veiled attempt at trying to push bitcoin mining offshore, which is something we believe potentially could threaten US national security. And we think it's very important for the US to maintain a strong position in securing the bitcoin network by allowing bitcoin mining to operate within the US along fair economical terms.

這顯然只是一種試圖將比特幣開採推向海外的隱蔽嘗試，我們認為這可能威脅到美國的國家安全。我們認為，通過允許比特幣挖礦以公平的經濟條件在美國境內運營，美國在保護比特幣網絡方面保持強勢地位非常重要。

Okay. [Cesar P.] asked can you briefly expand on Marathon Digital Holdings' mission for its investors regarding growing valuation and dividends?

好的。 [Cesar P.] 問你能否簡要介紹一下 Marathon Digital Holdings 為其投資者提供的關於不斷增長的估值和股息的使命？

Yeah, I'm not going to comment on dividends. Companies that pay dividends typically are just mature industries where there's typically not a lot of growth happening and it's really just about optimization. In the bitcoin mining industry, we are driven to continue to grow our capacity because of the increase in the difficulty rate and the -- having a bitcoin that happens every four years.

是的，我不會評論股息。支付股息的公司通常只是成熟的行業，通常不會有太多的增長，而且實際上只是優化。在比特幣挖礦行業，由於難度率的增加以及每四年出現一次比特幣，我們被迫繼續擴大我們的產能。

And so, we're very focused on continuing to grow. We've done a huge amount of growth this year. We've already doubled our capacity from where we were at the beginning of the year, and we're going to increase it at further nearly 50% by the time we hit our 23 exahash target around the middle of this year.

因此，我們非常專注於持續增長。今年我們取得了巨大的增長。我們的產能已經比年初翻了一番，我們將在今年年中左右達到 23 exahash 的目標時將產能進一步增加近 50%。

And so, we'll continue to grow in the future. We've not made any public pronouncements as to how much. But I think you could infer that minimally; we would want to maintain our share of the global hash rate going forward to maintain our share of the bitcoin that are awarded each day.

因此，我們將在未來繼續發展。我們還沒有就多少發表任何公開聲明。但我認為你可以最低限度地推斷出這一點；我們希望在未來保持我們在全球哈希率中的份額，以保持我們在每天獎勵的比特幣中的份額。

Okay. Well, in the interest of time, I think we'll have to wrap up this part of the Q&A. Thanks to our investors. We really appreciate your interest and your questions. I'll now going to turn the call back over to our operator to open the line to questions from our covering analysts. Sherry, back to you.

好的。好吧，為了節省時間，我想我們必須結束這部分問答。感謝我們的投資者。我們非常感謝您的興趣和問題。我現在將把電話轉回給我們的接線員，以打開我們的覆蓋分析師提問的線路。雪莉，回到你身邊。

(Operator Instructions) Joe Flynn, Compass Point Research and Trading.

（操作員說明）Joe Flynn，Compass Point Research and Trading。

Hey, guys. Thanks for the question. We're curious what drove the lower uptime in April compared to the March. And if you could comment on maybe the incremental fee benefit you've been getting from [ordinals] and just overall network activity, looks pretty strong this quarter and it looks like it started picking up as early as March. Thanks.

大家好。謝謝你的問題。我們很好奇是什麼導致 4 月份的正常運行時間低於 3 月份。如果你能評論一下你從 [ordinals] 和整個網絡活動中獲得的增量費用收益，本季度看起來非常強勁，而且它似乎早在 3 月份就開始回升。謝謝。

Sure. So what drove April's production results are a combination of some curtailment in Texas due to heat, as well as one less day of mining, 30 days versus 31 days in the month, and the increase in the global -- in the difficulty rate because of the increase in the global hash rate, primarily.

當然。因此，推動 4 月份生產結果的因素是德克薩斯州因高溫而減產，採礦時間減少一天，30 天比當月的 31 天，以及全球難度率的增加，因為主要是全球哈希率的增加。

As you look at the impact of ordinals, obviously we've seen block rewards go up considerably. Where typically the average block reward we've previously been seeing is somewhere in the 0.2 to 0.5 bitcoin per block. There were some blocks that were won by various pools at over 6.25 bitcoin per, block meaning that the transaction fees were greater than the block reward fees provided by the bitcoin network.

當您查看序數的影響時，顯然我們已經看到區塊獎勵大幅增加。我們之前看到的平均區塊獎勵通常在每個區塊 0.2 到 0.5 個比特幣之間。有一些區塊被各種礦池以超過 6.25 個比特幣/區塊的價格贏得，這意味著交易費用高於比特幣網絡提供的區塊獎勵費用。

I think this is likely going to be an initial frenzy as people use BRC-20 tokens and are leveraging ordinals. And I think over time, what we'll find is the competition for getting blocks processed and transactions processed that have driven up the fees will abate a little bit and we'll see more normalized transaction fees still above historical trends in the most recent periods, but not at the levels of 6 BTC per block.

我認為這可能會是最初的狂熱，因為人們使用 BRC-20 代幣並正在利用序數。而且我認為隨著時間的推移，我們會發現在處理區塊和處理交易方面的競爭已經推高了費用，並且我們會看到更多的標準化交易費用在最近一段時間內仍高於歷史趨勢，但不是每塊 6 BTC 的水平。

I think the -- there'll be some technologies that will likely come to market, which will enable people to achieve the same outcome on the bitcoin network as BRC-20 and ordinals have enabled, but without causing as competitive or is around the transaction fees.

我認為 - 將會有一些技術可能會進入市場，這將使人們能夠在比特幣網絡上實現與 BRC-20 和序數已經實現的相同結果，但不會引起競爭或圍繞交易費用。

And I'm strong believer in innovation in this space, and I think we'll continue to see development of applications and business and use cases on top of the bitcoin blockchain accelerate. We've seen -- if you look at the data around the creation of wallets on the bitcoin network, it's at a record level, back near or above the levels of 2017. And so, obviously there's a huge demand to build things on the bitcoin blockchain.

我堅信這個領域的創新，我認為我們將繼續看到比特幣區塊鏈之上的應用程序和業務以及用例的開發加速。我們已經看到——如果你查看比特幣網絡上錢包創建的相關數據，它處於創紀錄的水平，接近或高於 2017 年的水平。因此，很明顯，在比特幣網絡上構建東西的需求很大比特幣區塊鏈。

Development team is focused on the bitcoin blockchain, have expanded considerably. And we're obviously very interested in fermenting as much development on this network as possible because we believe a strong bitcoin network is the best thing, for not just the industry, but this country as well.

開發團隊專注於比特幣區塊鏈，已大大擴展。我們顯然非常有興趣在這個網絡上盡可能多地發展，因為我們相信強大的比特幣網絡是最好的東西，不僅對這個行業，對這個國家也是如此。

Thanks. That's helpful. And then just one more question on -- if you could expand in your capital allocation plans going forward. As you mentioned, most of the CapEx is paid for at the JV and all the miners are purchased. So just more specifically on that point, have you considered using the cash and bitcoin on hand to buy back the convert here, like at a significant discount?

謝謝。這很有幫助。然後再問一個問題——你是否可以擴大你未來的資本配置計劃。正如您提到的，大部分資本支出都是在合資企業支付的，所有礦工都是購買的。因此，更具體地說，您是否考慮過使用手頭的現金和比特幣在這里以大幅折扣的價格買回兌換券？

I'm not going to comment on the convert, but we're obviously very focused on managing the company's assets as effectively and efficiently as possible. And we'll continue to evaluate growth opportunities and obviously balance sheet opportunities as we move forward. And we'll announce plans as they happen.

我不會對轉換發表評論，但我們顯然非常專注於盡可能有效和高效地管理公司的資產。隨著我們的前進，我們將繼續評估增長機會和明顯的資產負債表機會。我們會在計劃發生時宣布計劃。

Alright. Thanks.

好吧。謝謝。

Lucas Pipes, B. Riley Securities.

Lucas Pipes，B. Riley Securities。

Thank you very much, operator. Good morning, everyone. Thanks for taking my question. Fred, I wanted to circle back to the earlier question regarding production cost and maybe take a slightly different angle.

非常感謝你，接線員。大家，早安。感謝您提出我的問題。弗雷德，我想回到之前關於生產成本的問題，或許可以換一個稍微不同的角度。

Could you comment on the average power cost in Q1 in terms of [spend] per kilowatt hour and what would be your outlook for power cost once you fully ramped up to the 23.3 exahash? Thank you.

您能否根據每千瓦時 [spend] 來評論第一季度的平均電力成本，以及一旦您完全提升到 23.3 exahash，您對電力成本的展望是什麼？謝謝。

Sure. The difficulty, Lucas, as you're aware, is in some cases, we pay for energy and hosting separately. But in most of our third-party hosting, it's actually baked together. So I can only really talk about combined hosting an energy cost as opposed to just energy broken out. But I think you can look at the numbers there and see that our energy costs are -- and hosting costs all combined, are somewhere in the $0.06 to $0.07 range most probably. Doing calculus back of the envelope, I think that would be a fair place to put it. But again, that's hosting plus energy cost.

當然。困難，盧卡斯，正如你所知，在某些情況下，我們分別支付能源和託管費用。但在我們的大多數第三方託管中，它實際上是一起烘焙的。所以我只能真正談論合併託管能源成本，而不是僅僅討論能源消耗。但我認為你可以看看那裡的數字，看看我們的能源成本——加上託管成本，很可能在 0.06 美元到 0.07 美元的範圍內。在信封後面做微積分，我認為把它放在那裡是一個公平的地方。但同樣，這是託管加上能源成本。

Got it.

知道了。

The only place where we currently break it out is really our King Mountain site because it's the only place where we could break it out separately.

我們目前唯一可以分解的地方實際上是我們的 King Mountain 站點，因為這是我們唯一可以單獨分解的地方。

Very helpful. Thank you. And then that $0.06 to $0.07 would supply to the fully ramped 23.3?

很有幫助。謝謝。然後 0.06 美元到 0.07 美元將供應到完全上升的 23.3？

Yes.

是的。

Very helpful. Thank you for that. And then I know you've got a few questions already in regards to investments over the course of this year. Again, I want to take a slightly different angle looking at the Q1 cash flow statement.

很有幫助。謝謝你。然後我知道你已經對今年的投資提出了一些問題。同樣，我想從一個稍微不同的角度來看第一季度的現金流量表。

I see three buckets: advances to vendors, purchase of PP&E -- or P&E rather, and then also, investments in the joint venture. And I just wondered if you could maybe elaborate on each of those buckets exactly what use, for example, in the joint ventures that in Abu Dhabi or is that related to Kings Mountain, et cetera. So would appreciate the color on those investments. And then also, at the end of the year, where would you expect these various buckets to stand based on your current budget? Thank you very much.

我看到三個桶：預付款給供應商，購買 PP&E——或者更確切地說是 P&E，然後還有對合資企業的投資。我只是想知道你是否可以詳細說明每個桶的確切用途，例如，在阿布扎比的合資企業或與國王山相關的合資企業等。所以會欣賞這些投資的顏色。然後，在今年年底，根據您當前的預算，您希望這些不同的存儲桶處於什麼位置？非常感謝。

Yeah. [The way we] look at it -- yeah, thank you, Hugh.

是的。 [我們] 看待它的方式——是的，謝謝你，休。

I'll just jump in. Lucas, I think the way I would look at it is as Fred mentioned, the 23 exahash is paid for, so we don't have any real significant CapEx related to hitting that. That doesn't mean where we won't continue to look to grow the business going forward.

我就跳進去。盧卡斯，我認為我會像弗雷德提到的那樣看待它，23 exahash 是付費的，所以我們沒有任何真正重要的資本支出與實現這一目標相關。這並不意味著我們不會繼續尋求發展業務的地方。

I think the one that you could probably most easily comment on and get clarity on is the investment in the joint venture, that is all related to the Abu Dhabi JV, it's $43 million so far. We said earlier in the initial announcement that we expected the entire JV to be around $406 million, 20% is our share. So 20% of that is in the $80 million range, a little bit over $80 million. So we're halfway through that. And I think that's probably the best way to kind of walk you through it.

我認為你可能最容易評論和弄清楚的是對合資企業的投資，這都與阿布扎比合資企業有關，到目前為止是 4300 萬美元。我們在最初的公告中早些時候說過，我們預計整個合資企業的價值約為 4.06 億美元，其中 20% 是我們的份額。所以其中 20% 在 8000 萬美元範圍內，略高於 8000 萬美元。所以我們已經完成了一半。我認為這可能是引導您完成它的最佳方式。

As you can see when you compare our cash flow this quarter to last year's quarter, as we've already said, significantly lower because most of the advances to vendors -- most of what happened in the first quarter was receipt of equipment and not necessarily purchases of any new equipment. Any purchases of PP&E that you see there are probably just some -- maybe some containers here and there for immersion and things like that, nothing really significant.

正如你所看到的，當你將我們本季度的現金流量與去年同期進行比較時，正如我們已經說過的那樣，顯著降低，因為供應商的大部分預付款 - 第一季度發生的大部分是設備的接收，不一定購買任何新設備。你看到的任何 PP&E 的購買可能只是一些 - 也許是一些用於浸泡的容器和類似的東西，沒有什麼真正重要的。

That is very helpful. Thank you for all the color and I'll turn it over. Best of luck.

這很有幫助。謝謝你所有的顏色，我會把它翻過來。祝你好運。

Thanks.

謝謝。

Tyler DiMatteo, BTIG.

BTIG 的泰勒·迪馬特奧 (Tyler DiMatteo)。

Good morning, everyone. Thanks for taking the questions. So Fred, I wanted to follow-up on your comments on the vertical integration with the mining tech stack. Can you provide a little more color there and how you're thinking about integrating some of those technologies into the business, the uptime of rigs from emerging, for example, I know it's a pretty big thing that you talk about. Any other color there that you could speak to that you're looking towards through this year, maybe in the next?

大家，早安。感謝您提出問題。所以弗雷德，我想跟進你對與挖礦技術堆棧的垂直整合的評論。你能在那裡提供更多的顏色嗎？你是如何考慮將其中一些技術整合到業務中的？新興鑽機的正常運行時間，例如，我知道你談論的是一件非常重要的事情。有沒有其他顏色可以說是你今年或明年期待的顏色？

Sure. So I think a great way to look at this is -- and again, don't translate these numbers literally. But if you look at the mobile telephone industry and you look at Apple versus any other vendor, Apple with less than 20% share of the mobile industry, generates over 80% of the gross margins in the industry because of their vertically integrated tech stack. They have the hardware device. In the hardware device, they have chips. They have the operating system on the device. They operate to cloud services and get a fee on transactions, if you would, that are done through their cloud services.

當然。所以我認為看待這個問題的一個好方法是——再次強調，不要從字面上翻譯這些數字。但如果你看看手機行業，看看蘋果與其他任何供應商的對比，蘋果在移動行業的份額不到 20%，但由於其垂直整合的技術堆棧，它創造了該行業 80% 以上的毛利率。他們有硬件設備。在硬件設備中，他們有芯片。他們在設備上安裝了操作系統。他們使用雲服務並收取交易費用，如果您願意的話，這是通過他們的雲服務完成的。

If you correlate that to our tech stack, what is the equivalent of cloud services for us is our pool. The pool is the orchestration layer that essentially instructs miners what to do. In a traditional third-party pool, the challenge is that they have to be able to properly task and control miners with a huge amount of variation in them.

如果您將其與我們的技術堆棧相關聯，那麼對我們來說，相當於雲服務的就是我們的池。礦池是編排層，本質上是指導礦工做什麼。在傳統的第三方礦池中，挑戰在於他們必須能夠正確地分配和控制具有大量變化的礦工。

They may have old S9s old S17s by Bitmain; they may have micro-BT machines; they may have all sorts of machines of different generations, different efficiencies, different latencies, different capacities, connecting to their pool and they have to manage those equally, which means typically third-party pools are optimizing to the lowest common denominator. That creates inefficiency if you're a large-scale miner who has the most advanced equipment in the industry. And as we've said repeatedly, 66% of our hash rate will be coming from S19 XPs, which are the most energy efficient miners and amongst the most powerful miners in the industry today.

他們可能有 Bitmain 的舊 S9s 舊 S17s；他們可能有微型 BT 機器；他們可能擁有各種不同世代、不同效率、不同延遲、不同容量的機器，連接到他們的池，他們必須平等地管理這些機器，這意味著通常第三方池正在優化到最低公分母。如果您是擁有業內最先進設備的大型礦工，這會導致效率低下。正如我們反复說過的那樣，我們 66% 的哈希率將來自 S19 XP，它們是當今行業中最節能和最強大的礦機之一。

So being member of a pool that's optimized to a lower common denominator of S9s and S17s doesn't make sense. And while it's not going to generate a huge increase in the operational efficiency, it does add incremental efficiency. And in our industry, a 1%, 2%, 3%, 4%, or 5% increase in efficiency can be very significant. And so, you start with the pool. And by having our own pool, we essentially don't have to design it to operate with third parties in mind.

因此，成為針對 S9 和 S17 的較低公分母進行優化的池的成員沒有意義。雖然它不會顯著提高運營效率，但它確實增加了效率。在我們的行業中，效率提高 1%、2%、3%、4% 或 5% 可能非常顯著。所以，你從游泳池開始。通過擁有自己的礦池，我們基本上不必將其設計為與第三方一起運作。

So everything we do can be optimized to efficiency. We can remove every second of latency in the communication, because, a, we don't have an issue of having to validate the miners that are connecting to our pool because it's our own pool; it's proprietary connections. And so, we can save on that step, for example, in the operational process of the pool.

因此，我們所做的一切都可以優化以提高效率。我們可以消除通信中的每一秒延遲，因為，a，我們沒有必須驗證連接到我們礦池的礦工的問題，因為它是我們自己的礦池；它是專有連接。因此，我們可以節省該步驟，例如，在池的操作過程中。

So things like that allow us to gain a few single-digit percentage points of efficiency, which allows our pool to sometimes potentially -- I'm not saying it's the reason why, but potentially outperform the average pools out there from a perspective of how many bitcoin per exahash do they produce.

所以像這樣的事情讓我們獲得了幾個個位數的效率點，這讓我們的礦池有時可能——我不是說這是原因，但從如何他們每 exahash 生產很多比特幣。

The next layer down is the management layer that actually operates a site. And so, together with the firmware that we have built, which allows us, again, optimize the operation of the miner specifically to our need as opposed to using a third-party firmware that's operating in the miner that has to cover lots of different machines, or the stock firmware that comes from the vendor.

再往下一層是實際運營站點的管理層。因此，與我們構建的固件一起，這使我們能夠再次根據我們的需要優化礦機的操作，而不是使用在必須覆蓋許多不同機器的礦機中運行的第三方固件，或來自供應商的庫存固件。

Our firmware is specifically optimized to work with our pool and also with our controller boards. And our controller boards provide us greater control over the miner. It allows us to do things like flashing updates over the air, so you don't have to go physically go and update each miner, you can all do it remotely. It lets us control and track the operation of every miner down to the hardware layer, which, again, allows us to optimize their performance, specifically to the needs of a specific site.

我們的固件經過專門優化，可與我們的泳池以及我們的控制器板配合使用。我們的控制器板使我們能夠更好地控制礦機。它允許我們做一些事情，比如無線更新，所以你不必親自去更新每個礦工，你們都可以遠程完成。它讓我們能夠控制和跟踪每個礦工的操作，一直到硬件層，這再次讓我們能夠優化他們的性能，特別是針對特定站點的需求。

So at a specific site, you may have temperature variations going on. You may have energy prices changing. You may be doing intelligent control of curtailment. All things like that start entering in to the technology stack and having a very significant impact on the operating results of an individual miner, a site, and therefore the company. So that's a way to look at it.

因此，在特定站點，您可能會發生溫度變化。您的能源價格可能會發生變化。您可能正在對削減進行智能控制。所有類似的事情都開始進入技術堆棧，並對單個礦工、站點乃至公司的運營結果產生非常重大的影響。所以這是一種看待它的方式。

The other way to look at it is over time we're going to integrate much more even down to the basic layer on the board of the miner itself. And I think you'll see, through some future announcements, what we've been doing in that area. And I think we will be absolutely the only miner who is fully integrated from pool down to ASIC in the industry, and we view that as a very critical differentiation.

另一種看待它的方式是，隨著時間的推移，我們將集成更多甚至深入到礦工本身的電路板上的基本層。我想您會通過未來的一些公告看到我們在該領域所做的工作。而且我認為我們絕對是行業中唯一從礦池到 ASIC 完全整合的礦工，我們認為這是一個非常關鍵的差異化。

Okay, great. Thank you. I really appreciate that. And then I want to follow-up. You made some comments on the immersion with Applied Digital, and now you're working towards the JV. But you allude to some of those other opportunities, presumably, you may have mentioned a little bit of those, but can you just provide some more color on those as well if there's anything that you didn't just touch upon, please?

好的，太好了。謝謝。我真的很感激。然後我想跟進。您對 Applied Digital 的沉浸感發表了一些評論，現在您正在為合資企業而努力。但是你提到了其他一些機會，大概你可能已經提到了其中的一些，但是如果有什麼你沒有提到的，你能不能在這些上提供更多的顏色，好嗎？

Yeah. So as it relates to immersion, there's this concept in the technology industry about you're either a pioneer and you're the company that is the first one into an industry and -- or technology. And then there's a concept called fast followers. And if you look throughout history in the technology industry, and I've spent 40-years in this industry, clearly, pioneers get arrows in their back and the fast followers are the ones who win. And the typical example people use is Google isn't the first search engine, Facebook wasn't the first social media site, et cetera. So it's typically a fast follower can build upon the learnings of the pioneers and do something much better.

是的。因此，就沉浸感而言，技術行業中有這樣一個概念，即你要么是先驅，要么是第一個進入行業和技術的公司。然後有一個概念叫做快速追隨者。如果你回顧科技行業的歷史，我在這個行業工作了 40 年，很明顯，先驅者背後有箭，快速的追隨者才是贏家。人們使用的典型例子是谷歌不是第一個搜索引擎，Facebook 不是第一個社交媒體網站，等等。因此，通常情況下，快速的追隨者可以在先驅者的學習基礎上再接再厲，做得更好。

And so, we, like many companies, and again the analog to Apple, Apple is typically not the first one into a -- with an innovation in a sector. They typically wait, see how things develop, and come out with a much better optimized version. And that was our approach to immersion.

因此，我們和許多公司一樣，再次類似於蘋果公司，蘋果公司通常不是第一個進入某個領域的公司——在一個領域進行創新。他們通常會等待，看看事情如何發展，然後推出一個更好的優化版本。這就是我們沉浸其中的方法。

We looked at a lot of the Gen 1 versions of immersion and how people had done those. And we realized there were some shortcomings in those systems, and we had a couple of design criteria that we wanted to have. One was simplicity and cost efficiency. It had to be as low cost as possible from a CapEx perspective to deploy it. It had to have the highest degree of reliability and uptime and be able to be controlled and maintained remotely. So that you didn't have to have large team of people on the ground.

我們研究了很多第一代沉浸式體驗以及人們是如何做到的。我們意識到這些系統存在一些缺點，並且我們有一些我們想要的設計標準。一是簡單性和成本效益。從資本支出的角度來看，部署它的成本必須盡可能低。它必須具有最高程度的可靠性和正常運行時間，並且能夠遠程控制和維護。這樣你就不必在地面上部署大量人員。

And as could be -- as we were able to prove in the Abu Dhabi, Tyler, there are very few places where bitcoin mining goes on, where the operation can be totally done lights out, so to say with nobody touching machines and maintaining things for a 100-day period. That's unheard of in this industry.

正如我們在阿布扎比能夠證明的那樣，Tyler，很少有地方可以進行比特幣挖礦，在那裡可以完全熄燈進行操作，也就是說沒有人接觸機器和維護東西為期 100 天。這在這個行業是聞所未聞的。

And what that opens up the -- ability to do is now, a, you're lowering your operating cost of sites because you have fewer people on the ground having to maintain machines and the systems uptime. What it also does is it lowers the economic barrier to doing smaller-scale sites because now, typically, the industry has been driven to do utility scale sites north of 50 megawatts because just that's what pencil is best relative to the number of people you have to have on the ground to maintain and operate the site.

而這開啟了——現在的能力是，a，你正在降低網站的運營成本，因為你需要維護機器和系統正常運行時間的地面人員減少了。它還能降低建設小型站點的經濟壁壘，因為現在，通常情況下，該行業已被驅使建設 50 兆瓦以上的公用事業規模站點，因為相對於你擁有的人數，這是鉛筆最好的選擇必須在地面上維護和操作站點。

But with our immersion technology solution, we believe that we can go downsize in sites, which opens up many more opportunities globally for places where we can mine. And the ability to do so with very little operating team member involvement allows us to run a vastly distributed network if we wanted to do that.

但是，借助我們的浸入式技術解決方案，我們相信我們可以縮小礦場規模，從而在全球範圍內為我們可以開采的地方開闢更多機會。如果我們想這樣做的話，只需很少的運營團隊成員參與就可以做到這一點，這使我們能夠運行一個廣泛分佈的網絡。

So there's some technology design decisions in there that we're really key on how do we become the most highly optimized miner out there, and especially with emerging technology using this generation that we're now deploying with Abu Dhabi and we're continuing to evolve that even as we speak further and adding more enhancements to it, I think what you'll see is we will lead always with technology, whether it's the fastest most energy efficient machines, whether it's the best immersion technology, the best firmware, best controller boards, best pool, et cetera.

因此，其中有一些技術設計決策，我們真正關鍵的是我們如何成為那裡最優化的礦工，尤其是使用我們現在正在阿布扎比部署的這一代的新興技術，我們將繼續不斷發展，即使我們談得更遠，並為其添加更多增強功能，我想你會看到，我們將始終引領技術，無論是最快最節能的機器，還是最好的沉浸式技術、最好的固件、最好的控制器板、最佳池等。

Okay, great. Thank you. Really appreciate that, Fred. I'll turn it back to the queue.

好的，太好了。謝謝。真的很感激，弗雷德。我會把它轉回隊列。

Kevin Dede, H.C. Wainwright.

凱文·德德，H.C.溫賴特。

Good morning, gents. Thanks for taking my questions. Fred, can we go back to the curtailment announcement, or comment that you made with regard to the March -- sorry, yeah, March operation?

早上好，先生們。感謝您回答我的問題。 Fred，我們能否回到縮減公告，或者您對 3 月所做的評論 - 抱歉，是的，3 月的操作？

April?

四月？

April. April, right. Could you add maybe a little more color to that? At what point do you get to decide, or do you rely on your hosting partners to decide? What's the threshold? How do you look at weather patterns? And I don't know, just -- maybe just give us some insight on your thinking around curtailment and how you're going to manage it.

四月。四月，對。你能給它加點顏色嗎？您在什麼時候做出決定，還是依靠您的託管合作夥伴來決定？門檻是多少？你如何看待天氣模式？而且我不知道，只是 - 也許只是讓我們了解您對削減的想法以及您將如何管理它。

Yeah. So think of it this way. Unlike some of our competitors who operate single sites, have all of their hash rate coming from one site and are subject to the foibles of the grid and our power generation sources that they have at the one site, we have our operations now distributed across many, many sites. And so, each site handles curtailment slightly differently from an operational perspective.

是的。所以這樣想。與我們的一些運營單一站點的競爭對手不同，他們的所有哈希率都來自一個站點，並且受到電網和我們在一個站點擁有的發電資源的缺陷的影響，我們現在的業務分佈在許多地方, 許多網站。因此，從運營的角度來看，每個站點處理削減的方式略有不同。

For example, at King Mountain in Texas. What's unique is we have a direct PPA for the wind energy there, which drives some decisions as to whether we're going to sell that energy or consume it ourselves based on where the current price of bitcoin is, global hash rate, and energy prices in the grid market.

例如，在德克薩斯州的國王山。獨特之處在於我們對那裡的風能有一個直接的購電協議，它會根據比特幣的當前價格、全球哈希率和能源價格來決定我們是要出售該能源還是自己消耗它在電網市場。

And then that's also limited by the systems that our third-party partners, in this case, US BTC, have deployed on the ground. We've been doing number of upgrades with them to how curtailment is being handled. And I think what you'll see is with the enhancements -- the technology enhancements that are being put in place, the systems are becoming more intelligent in our ability to really optimize when we shut down and how we shutdown.

然後這也受到我們的第三方合作夥伴（在本例中為 US BTC）在地面上部署的系統的限制。我們一直在與他們一起升級如何處理縮減。而且我認為您會看到增強功能——正在實施的技術增強功能，系統在我們真正優化關閉時間和關閉方式的能力方面變得更加智能。

We'll start seeing some benefits here as we go into the summer months, where typically, in Texas, you have higher heat, and therefore you have issues around heat generated curtailment, which is not a grid issue; that's an operations issue. But it's still important because it is a curtailment of operations, if you would. And so, some of the things that our custom firmware allows us to do is optimize both under clocking and over clocking at miners as a way to deal with heat.

當我們進入夏季時，我們將在這裡開始看到一些好處，通常在德克薩斯州，您的熱量更高，因此您會遇到熱量產生的削減問題，這不是電網問題；那是一個操作問題。但這仍然很重要，因為如果您願意的話，它是對運營的縮減。因此，我們的自定義固件允許我們做的一些事情是優化礦工的超頻和超頻，作為處理熱量的一種方式。

With the APLD sites, for example, again, it's site specific, how we deal with curtailment though because the North Dakota location of those sites is very different than West Texas where King Mountain is, different weather patterns, different seasonality, different issues, grid operators, et cetera.

例如，對於 APLD 站點，它是特定於站點的，我們如何處理縮減，因為這些站點位於北達科他州的位置與金山所在的西德克薩斯州非常不同，不同的天氣模式、不同的季節性、不同的問題、網格運營商等。

So our diversified strategy allows us to have a very diverse exposure to curtailment. And as we continue to explore and deploy more immersion, we'll have less curtailment due to heat in places where we use the emerging technology and as we continue to build out our operations capabilities around managing in an automated fashion.

因此，我們的多元化戰略使我們能夠面臨非常多樣化的削減。隨著我們繼續探索和部署更多的沉浸式體驗，我們將減少因使用新興技術的地方的熱量而導致的削減，並且隨著我們繼續圍繞自動化管理建立我們的運營能力。

Energy pricing curtailment, you'll see some advancements in efficiency there. And I think, obviously, as we get involved in opportunities where we're actually controlling the power purchases, you will be able to take advantage of some of the tools that exist for buying blocks and hedging and things like that as well, which will further optimize operations there. So think of it as we're just starting on this journey of optimizing curtailment, but we'll see continual benefits throughout this year.

能源定價削減，你會看到那裡的效率有所提高。而且我認為，很明顯，當我們參與實際控制電力購買的機會時，您將能夠利用現有的一些工具來購買大宗商品和對沖以及類似的東西，這將進一步優化那裡的運營。因此，將其視為我們剛剛開始優化削減的旅程，但我們將在今年看到持續的收益。

Can we carry that discussion over to the Abu Dhabi installation, Fred, please? I know you said 250 megawatts and 7 exahashes. Is that seven nameplate? Can you talk about overclocking, underclocking there. Maybe you can offer some insight on the performance you saw in your pilot with overclocking.

弗雷德，我們能把這個討論轉移到阿布扎比裝置上嗎？我知道你說的是 250 兆瓦和 7 exahashes。那是七個銘牌嗎？你能談談那裡的超頻，降頻嗎？也許您可以提供一些關於您在超頻試驗中看到的性能的見解。

And then how should we assume that power comes online? Do you think it's all in by the end of this year, or maybe give us a little more insight. I know you said that you'd have something going this year. I just wasn't -- I guess, I just missed the details. Apologies.

那麼我們應該如何假設電力上線了呢？你認為這一切都在今年年底之前完成，或者給我們更多的見解。我知道你說過你今年會有所作為。我只是沒有——我想，我只是錯過了細節。道歉。

Sure. So in reverse order, the site will be fully operational by the end of this year, all 250 megawatts. And like any of our deployments, you'll see it come on gradually. Starting in the not-too-distant future here and then accelerating as more equipment has landed on the ground and installed. So Abu Dhabi, specifically, if you want to think about curtailment there in the summer months, you'll see some curtailment due to not heat, but rather energy demand.

當然。因此，按照相反的順序，該站點將在今年年底全面投入運營，全部 250 兆瓦。就像我們的任何部署一樣，您會看到它逐漸出現。從不久的將來開始，然後隨著更多設備落地和安裝而加速。所以阿布扎比，具體來說，如果你想考慮夏季幾個月的削減，你會看到一些削減不是因為熱量，而是能源需求。

I think I've mentioned previously, you have this energy use of symmetry that exists there where they need 4 gigawatts of power generation in the summer for all the air conditioning that they run amongst other things. And in the winter, that's only about 1 gigawatt. And so, in the wintertime, there's plenty of excess energy; and in the summertime, there are periods of the day where there may be curtailment.

我想我之前已經提到過，你有這種對稱的能源使用，在那裡他們在夏天需要 4 吉瓦的發電量來為他們運行的所有空調除其他外。而在冬天，這只有大約 1 吉瓦。因此，在冬季，有大量的過剩能量；在夏季，一天中的某些時段可能會出現限電。

So we may see some seasonality in the numbers. And likely, we'll see in the summer months some curtailment. And then in the winter period, obviously, there won't be any curtailment. So there'll be seasonality in those numbers.

因此，我們可能會在數字中看到一些季節性。很可能，我們會在夏季看到一些縮減。然後在冬季，顯然不會有任何削減。所以這些數字會有季節性。

All of the hash rate, when we talk about it, is nameplate. And we specifically don't comment on over clocking because two things: one, it's very easy to assume, oh, if you can overclock your miner by 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, then we'll just take that into your numbers. And overclocking is dependent on a lot of things, site specific, cooling technology specific, et cetera. And it just gets too complicated to try to talk about hash rate net of -- over or under clocking.

當我們談論它時，所有的哈希率都是銘牌。我們特別不評論超頻，因為有兩件事：第一，很容易假設，哦，如果你可以將你的礦機超頻 10%、20%、30%、40%、50%，那麼我們將只需將其計入您的數字即可。超頻取決於很多因素，特定於站點，特定於冷卻技術等等。試圖談論超過或低於時鐘的哈希率淨值變得太複雜了。

So we believe that by talking just nameplate hash rate, there's going to be periods of the time in certain sites where we underclock miners as a way to keep them operating during summer months when otherwise they would be curtailed for heat purposes as opposed to energy purposes.

因此，我們相信，通過僅談論銘牌哈希率，在某些站點中，我們會在某些時間段內降低礦工的頻率，以保持他們在夏季的幾個月內正常運行，否則他們會因供熱而不是能源目的而被削減.

And there will be times of the year at certain sites where we will overclock. What I can tell you is that the pilot in Abu Dhabi exceeded our expectations on the amount of overclock we were able to achieve. I'm not going to name a specific number. I'm going to be like the US Navy and just not talk about how fast our ships are or how deep our submarines go.

一年中的某些時候，我們會在某些地點進行超頻。我可以告訴你的是，阿布扎比的試點超出了我們對能夠實現的超頻量的預期。我不打算說出具體數字。我會像美國海軍一樣，只是不談論我們的船隻有多快或我們的潛艇有多深。

But I think what you will see as we announced numbers in the forward quarters, including results from those sites, I would expect to see our operational efficiency as a percentage of our nameplate hash rate get closer to 100% at times when we can overclock and otherwise be it what our normal rate is, which is in the 90-ish percentile.

但我認為，當我們在未來幾個季度公佈數字時，包括來自這些網站的結果，你會看到，我希望看到我們的運營效率在我們可以超頻和時有時會接近 100%，因為我們銘牌哈希率的百分比否則就是我們的正常比率，在 90-ish 百分位。

How should we think about the joint ventures' power costs?

我們應該如何看待合資企業的電力成本？

So I think you should think of it as it's essentially fixed contractual price that starts in the low-single-digit range and goes up marginally over the life of the contract. So there's no risk on the pricing there at all. It's fixed with an annual little increase each year.

所以我認為你應該把它看作是本質上固定的合同價格，從較低的個位數範圍開始，並在合同期限內略有上漲。所以那裡的定價根本沒有風險。它是固定的，每年略有增加。

And again, because that's a joint venture operation, depending on how we end up consolidating that, we may just show it as a profit number based on our 20% share without a lot of detail around the specific bitcoin mine there, et cetera. But that's something -- those are details we're still working out.

再一次，因為這是一家合資企業，取決於我們最終如何整合它，我們可能只是將其顯示為基於我們 20% 份額的利潤數字，而沒有關於那里特定比特幣礦等的很多細節。但那是一些東西 - 這些是我們仍在研究的細節。

Okay. You mentioned the -- actually, I apologize, I'm not sure if you mentioned the length of the contract. But can you talk to that? Can you talk to who has hands on assets at the conclusion of the contract?

好的。你提到了 - 實際上，我很抱歉，我不確定你是否提到了合同的期限。但是你能和它談談嗎？您能否與合同簽訂時掌握資產的人交談？

So we haven't commented on that aspect of it. It's a multi-year agreement. And like any JV, there are provisions in the contracts that allow for liquidation of the joint venture, either at expiration or extension of it. And then there's an unwinding process that would happen there. So it's -- but it is a multi-year agreement, not atypical to the typical duration of the hosting agreements that we have.

所以我們沒有對它的這方面發表評論。這是一項多年期協議。和任何合資企業一樣，合同中有條款允許在合資企業到期或延期時清算合資企業。然後那裡會發生一個展開過程。所以它是 - 但它是一個多年期協議，與我們擁有的託管協議的典型持續時間並無不同。

Brian Dobson, Chardan Capital Markets.

Chardan 資本市場的 Brian Dobson。

Hi, thanks and good morning. Just another quick follow-up on the joint venture, which is very exciting. So I guess, ultimately, as a management, how did you choose that partner? And also, which geographies were you considering? And really, what made you decide that Abu Dhabi was the right place?

嗨，謝謝，早上好。只是對合資企業的又一次快速跟進，這非常令人興奮。所以我想，最終，作為管理層，您是如何選擇合作夥伴的？而且，您考慮的是哪些地區？說真的，是什麼讓你決定阿布扎比是正確的地方？

Great question. So when you look at any opportunity, you're looking at the risk-reward aspects of it. And so, as an international opportunity, you obviously have risk relative to the low cost -- the country you're going to operate in, they're regime, risk, taxation, et cetera. And UAE had a number of very attractive opportunity or aspects to it.

很好的問題。因此，當您查看任何機會時，您正在查看它的風險回報方面。因此，作為一個國際機會，你顯然有相對於低成本的風險——你將要經營的國家，它們是製度、風險、稅收等等。阿聯酋有許多非常有吸引力的機會或方面。

One is stability, excess power. They just recently brought on a new 5-gigawatt nuclear power plant in addition to all of the existing power infrastructure they had. And so, they had excess power generation capacity, but they also had a need for bitcoin mining. This asymmetry in the energy that exists there creates a problem or challenge for them, which is twofold.

一是穩定，過剩的力量。除了現有的所有電力基礎設施外，他們最近還新建了一座 5 吉瓦的核電站。因此，他們有過剩的發電能力，但他們也有比特幣挖礦的需求。那裡存在的這種能量不對稱給他們帶來了問題或挑戰，這是雙重的。

One is you're only monetizing your energy generation in the winter months to a much lower degree than you are in the summer months. And so, that capital equipment, if you would, for energy generation, in theory is not revenue generating in the months and you're not consuming the power that's needed there. And so, the government and the owners and investors in the power generation assets were very interested to find a way that would allow them to better get a return on investment in their power-generating assets, which includes the transmission line distribution of energy in the country, in a way, to achieve a couple of things.

一是與夏季相比，您僅在冬季將能源發電貨幣化的程度要低得多。因此，如果你願意的話，用於發電的資本設備在理論上不會在幾個月內產生收入，而且你不會消耗那裡所需的電力。因此，政府以及發電資產的所有者和投資者非常有興趣找到一種方法，使他們能夠更好地獲得發電資產投資回報，其中包括輸電線路的能源分配國家，在某種程度上，實現了幾件事。

One is how do we obviously generate revenues that we're not generating today as a way to increase the ROI on the investment they made in the energy generation and distribution. The other thing is the government provides subsidies for electricity to their people, which is a great thing. And the ability to monetize the energy generation through bitcoin mining is a way to allow the government to do that in a way where they're not having money out of treasury to do it, but instead, can use this operation as a way to help subsidize the energy costs in the country.

一個是我們如何明顯地產生我們今天沒有產生的收入，以此作為提高他們在能源生產和分配方面投資的投資回報率的一種方式。另一件事是政府為他們的人民提供電力補貼，這是一件好事。通過比特幣挖礦將能源產生貨幣化的能力是一種允許政府以一種他們沒有從國庫中拿出錢來做到這一點的方式，而是可以使用這種操作來幫助補貼該國的能源成本。

And lastly, the heat offtake from the energy generation essentially drives the water desalination systems that they have. And the vast majority of water in that region has to come from desalination, where you're taking seawater and you're essentially heating it to the point where it converts to steam, then you condense the steam, and what you have is distilled water essentially. And that is the primary source of water in that region.

最後，發電產生的熱量主要驅動他們擁有的海水淡化系統。那個地區的絕大部分水必須來自海水淡化，你把海水加熱到它轉化為蒸汽的程度，然後你冷凝蒸汽，你所擁有的就是蒸餾水本質上。那是那個地區的主要水源。

And so, they need the heat offtake from the energy generation. But when the energy generation drops in the wintertime, they don't have all that heat offtake. So they had to find a way to keep the heat going, if you would, from the energy generation in a way that was profitable because you don't want to run these systems if you can't sell the energy. So we provided the ideal solution. So it was really a match made in heaven.

因此，他們需要從能源生產中排出熱量。但是當冬季能量產生下降時，它們就沒有那麼多熱量了。所以他們必須找到一種方法來保持熱量，如果你願意的話，以一種有利可圖的方式從能源生產中獲取熱量，因為如果你不能出售能源，你就不想運行這些系統。所以我們提供了理想的解決方案。所以這真是天作之合。

If you think about who our partners are there, the investors, the co-investors, if you would, together with us in this opportunity are obviously members of the sovereign wealth fund, which also, has an ownership interest in the power generation and distribution in the country. And so, from a risk perspective, we only wanted to partner with somebody where we could dramatically decrease risk of energy pricing, energy contracts, energy distribution, et cetera.

如果你想一想我們的合作夥伴是誰，投資者，共同投資者，如果你願意，在這個機會中與我們一起顯然是主權財富基金的成員，該基金也擁有發電和配電的所有權權益在國內。因此，從風險的角度來看，我們只想與可以顯著降低能源定價、能源合同、能源分配等風險的人合作。

And we also wanted to partner with a partner who would have significant skin in the game to ensure that the operation was going to operate successfully post-launch, and that they were going to be able to bring the capital to the table if they said they were. And we could not have chosen a better partner. And Zero Two is a great partner. Their investors are obviously some of the largest entities in the country. And we feel very honored and proud to be able to work with such a good partner there.

而且我們還想與一個在遊戲中擁有重要皮膚的合作夥伴合作，以確保該操作在啟動後成功運行，並且如果他們說他們能夠將資金帶到桌面上是。我們無法選擇更好的合作夥伴。零二是一個很好的合作夥伴。他們的投資者顯然是該國一些最大的實體。能夠與這樣的好夥伴一起工作，我們感到非常榮幸和自豪。

So it was a combination of risk, the unique nature of the way energy markets work in that country, in that region, and also the ability for us to really deliver a technology advantage that nobody else could. And here were a number of other people who had attempted to partner, and we ended up being chosen because our solution was better.

因此，這是風險的結合，能源市場在那個國家、那個地區運作方式的獨特性，以及我們真正提供其他人無法提供的技術優勢的能力。這裡有許多其他人試圖合作，我們最終被選中是因為我們的解決方案更好。

Yeah, excellent. Thank you. I think that that's really in line with what a lot of investors are talking about as far as subsidizing the base loan on -- a base load on that clean energy projects. Do you see opportunities elsewhere in the world? And what other geographies might you consider?

是的，優秀。謝謝。我認為，就補貼基礎貸款而言，這確實符合許多投資者所談論的——清潔能源項目的基礎負荷。您在世界其他地方看到機會了嗎？您還可以考慮哪些其他地區？

Yeah, a great question. So we are very focused on diversifying risk. And by the same token, no pun intended, that we diversified out of Texas into North Dakota and other parts of the US, now diversifying internationally, we're looking at things like optimizing for different climates in different hemispheres.

是的，一個很好的問題。所以我們非常注重分散風險。出於同樣的原因，沒有雙關語的意思，我們從德克薩斯州多元化到北達科他州和美國其他地區，現在在國際上多元化，我們正在研究諸如針對不同半球的不同氣候進行優化之類的事情。

And so, for example, if you're in the southern hemisphere and you're operating there with seasonality there, heat, for example, if we were to do air cooled in the southern hemisphere, the hottest period for the southern hemisphere is when it's coldest in the northern hemisphere. And so, you could essentially offset some of the seasonality in production by splitting operations between North and South hemispheres.

因此，例如，如果您在南半球並且在那裡進行季節性操作，那麼熱量，例如，如果我們要在南半球進行空氣冷卻，那麼南半球最熱的時期是這是北半球最冷的地方。因此，您可以通過在北半球和南半球之間拆分業務，從根本上抵消生產中的一些季節性。

So there are some opportunities in Latin America, which we think are potentially promising. We're not going to name locations at this point, but let's just say that there's some very interesting opportunities for renewable energy in Latin America. We're also looking at further growth in the Gulf region, not just in UAE, but countries around there, who have similar needs and similar systems and allows us to leverage our good reputation from the Zero Two project in the region.

因此，拉丁美洲有一些機會，我們認為這些機會很有潛力。我們現在不打算說出地點，但我們只想說拉丁美洲有一些非常有趣的可再生能源機會。我們還著眼於海灣地區的進一步發展，不僅是在阿聯酋，還有周圍的國家，他們有相似的需求和相似的系統，使我們能夠利用我們在該地區零二項目中的良好聲譽。

There are some potential interesting energy sources in Africa. There are renewable, geothermal energy, for example, being one that look quite promising. You won't see us necessarily doing any expansion in Europe. You may see some expansion in Asia. There are certain opportunities in parts of Asia where there's attractive hydro energy also.

非洲有一些潛在的有趣能源。例如，可再生能源、地熱能源看起來很有前途。您不會看到我們一定會在歐洲進行任何擴張。您可能會在亞洲看到一些擴張。亞洲部分地區也有一定的機會，那裡的水力能源也很有吸引力。

So I think if you look at the combination of our technology stack that we've built, going back to what I said about being able to operate smaller sites hands off remotely, allows us to take advantage of opportunities for smaller size sites that maybe are more geographically dispersed. It opens up more opportunities than would normally be open to a large-scale miner like ourselves.

所以我認為，如果你看看我們已經構建的技術堆棧的組合，回到我所說的能夠遠程操作較小的站點，讓我們能夠利用小型站點的機會，這些站點可能是地理上更加分散。它為我們這樣的大型礦工提供了比通常更多的機會。

And then you also have the opportunity, as we've spoken about before, where we believe the ability to generate energy by consuming methane gas from landfills, for example, is a very interesting opportunity because you're taking something that is 80 times more damaging than carbon dioxide and essentially eliminating it, converting it to energy using that energy for bitcoin production. And in that way, we would be fully energy self-sustaining at those sites and not need potentially grid energy at all for that. And so, generate our own energy, consume our own energy, while at the same time, having a significant potential impact on the climate. So those are how we look at opportunities here going forward.

然後你也有機會，正如我們之前談到的，我們相信通過消耗垃圾填埋場的甲烷氣體來產生能量的能力，例如，是一個非常有趣的機會，因為你正在採取 80 倍以上的東西比二氧化碳更具破壞性並從根本上消除它，將其轉化為能量，使用該能量來生產比特幣。這樣一來，我們將在這些地點完全實現能源自給自足，而根本不需要潛在的電網能源。因此，產生我們自己的能源，消耗我們自己的能源，同時對氣候產生重大的潛在影響。因此，這就是我們如何看待未來的機會。

Excellent. Thank you very much for that color.

出色的。非常感謝你的顏色。

Thank you. There are no further questions at this point. I'm going to turn the call back over to Chris Brendler for closing remarks.

謝謝。現在沒有其他問題了。我將把電話轉回給 Chris Brendler 以作結束語。

Thanks, Sherry, and thanks everyone for your time today. If you have any additional questions that were not answered today during today's call, please feel free to contact our Investor Relations team at ir@mara.com. Thank you and enjoy the rest of your day.

謝謝，雪莉，感謝大家今天的時間。如果您有任何其他問題在今天的電話會議中沒有得到解答，請隨時通過 ir@mara.com 聯繫我們的投資者關係團隊。謝謝你，享受你剩下的一天。

Thank you. This does conclude today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time and thank you for your participation.

謝謝。今天的會議到此結束。您此時可以斷開您的線路，感謝您的參與。

Thank you.

謝謝。