MARA Holdings Inc (MARA) 2023 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Marathon Digital Holdings third-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，歡迎來到馬拉松數位控股公司第三季收益網路廣播和電話會議。現在我想將電話轉給主持人投資者關係副總裁 Chris Brendler。請繼續。

Thank you, Sherry. Good afternoon and welcome to Marathon Digital Holdings third-quarter 2023 earnings call. Thank you for joining us for our call today. With me on today's call are our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Fred Thiel, and our Chief Financial Officer, Salman Khan.

謝謝你，雪莉。下午好，歡迎參加馬拉松數位控股公司 2023 年第三季財報電話會議。感謝您今天參加我們的電話會議。與我一起參加今天電話會議的有我們的董事長兼執行長 Fred Thiel 和我們的財務長 Salman Khan。

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, and that may -- we may make additional forward-looking statements during the question-and-answer session.

在我們開始之前，我想提醒大家，我們準備好的發言可能包含前瞻性陳述，這些陳述存在風險和不確定性，並且我們可能會在問答過程中做出額外的前瞻性陳述。答辯環節。

These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties and actual results may differ materially. 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.

這些前瞻性陳述存在風險和不確定性，實際結果可能有重大差異。在本次電話會議中使用的字詞包括預期、能夠、啟用、估計、打算、期望、相信、潛力、意願、應該、項目以及與 Marathon Digital Holdings 相關的類似表達方式。因此，這是一份前瞻性聲明。

Please refer to our earnings release for a full recitation of our forward-looking statements. 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 viewed at www.sec.gov and ir.mara.com.

請參閱我們的收益發布，以了解我們前瞻性陳述的完整敘述。請投資人注意，所有前瞻性陳述均涉及風險和不確定性，這可能導致實際結果與馬拉松目前的預期有重大差異。此外，馬拉松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，您可以在 www.sec.gov 和 ir.mara.com 上查看這些文件。

Finally, please note that on today's call, we will refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures in which Marathon excludes certain items from its GAAP financial results. Please refer to our company's periodic reports on Form 10-K and 10-Q, and to our website for a full reconciliation of these 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，我們將提及某些非 GAAP 財務指標，其中馬拉松從其 GAAP 財務業績中排除了某些項目。請參閱我們公司的 10-K 和 10-Q 表格定期報告，以及我們的網站，以了解這些非 GAAP 績效指標與最具可比性 GAAP 財務指標的全面對帳資訊。

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

我們將以弗雷德和薩爾曼準備好的演講開始今天的電話會議。在他們發表評論後，我們將先討論投資人提出的一些較受歡迎的問題，然後再與我們的分析師進行現場問答。

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

解決這個問題後，我將把電話轉給弗雷德，讓事情開始。弗雷德？

Thank you, Chris. The third quarter was a landmark quarter for Marathon as we achieved several key milestones. To start the quarter, our first international facility in Abu Dhabi powered up just six months after the signing contract, even though this is the first site that was designed and built by Marathon together with our JV partner.

謝謝你，克里斯。第三季度是 Marathon 具有里程碑意義的季度，我們實現了幾個關鍵里程碑。在本季開始時，我們在阿布達比的第一個國際設施在簽訂合約僅六個月後就啟動了，儘管這是馬拉松與我們的合資夥伴一起設計和建造的第一個設施。

In August, we reached our stated goal of 23 exahashes and established Marathon as one of the largest Bitcoin miners globally. Then in September, we proactively restructured our convertible debt to further strengthen our balance sheet and prepare for opportunities that may be created by next year's halving.

8 月，我們實現了 23 exahash 的既定目標，並將 Marathon 打造為全球最大的比特幣礦商之一。然後在9月份，我們主動重組了可轉換債務，以進一步強化我們的資產負債表，並為明年減半可能創造的機會做好準備。

In addition to these key milestones, we also reported strong financial results with record revenue, lower cost per coin mined, and improving margins. Much of this success was the direct result of measurable progress on our 2023 priorities, which are energizing more capacity and optimizing our mining operations.

除了這些關鍵里程碑之外，我們還報告了強勁的財務業績，包括創紀錄的收入、更低的每枚硬幣開採成本以及不斷提高的利潤率。這項成功很大程度上是我們 2023 年優先事項取得可衡量進展的直接結果，這些優先事項是激發更多產能並優化我們的採礦作業。

Let me provide some more detail. In the third quarter, we increased our energized hash rate 8% from 17.7 exahashes to 19.1 exahashes. Over the same period, our average operational hash rate for the quarter increased 18%. The faster growth in realized cash rate was due to improved uptime that helped drive record Bitcoin production of 3,490 bitcoin, up 19% from the prior quarter as well as lower cost per coin.

讓我提供更多細節。第三季度，我們的活躍算力提高了 8%，從 17.7 exahash 增加到 19.1 exahash。同期，我們本季的平均營運哈希率成長了 18%。已實現現金利率的更快增長是由於正常運行時間的延長，這有助於推動比特幣產量達到創紀錄的 3,490 比特幣，比上一季增長 19％，並且每枚比特幣的成本更低。

The increase in uptime was driven by our optimization strategy and a more proactive approach to managing our domestic operations and hosting partners. Over the course of 2023, we have built up our operations team, adding key talent across site operations, power, hardware, software, networks, repair, and cooling. We are now directly managing our hosting partners to improve efficiency and increase uptime.

正常運作時間的增加是由我們的最佳化策略以及更積極主動的方法來管理我們的國內營運和託管合作夥伴所推動的。 2023 年，我們建立了營運團隊，增加了站點營運、電力、硬體、軟體、網路、維修和冷卻的關鍵人才。我們現在直接管理我們的託管合作夥伴，以提高效率並增加正常運行時間。

Our approach has included on-site Marathon resources to direct operations, upgrade equipment, optimize network design, as well as deploy our proprietary firmware. By way of example, uptime in McCamey, Texas increased by approximately 20% in the third quarter, even with an approximately 84% increase in curtailment hours relative to the second quarter. This progress is critically important as the improved operating efficiency lowered our direct cost per Bitcoin mined by 9% sequentially, excluding depreciation and amortization, despite a 9% increase in average network difficulty in the third quarter.

我們的方法包括利用現場 Marathon 資源來指導營運、升級設備、優化網路設計以及部署我們的專有韌體。舉例來說，德州麥卡米的正常運作時間在第三季增加了約 20%，儘管與第二季相比，縮減時間增加了約 84%。這項進展至關重要，因為儘管第三季平均網路難度增加了 9%，但營運效率的提高使我們開採每個比特幣的直接成本環比降低了 9%（不包括折舊和攤提）。

Our all-in cost per coin, which includes G&A without stock-based comp, dropped 12% quarter over quarter and 41% year over year. This material improvement is not just the result of optimization. It also reflects the significant scale benefits that we have achieved that helped lower our all-in cost per coin. On a year-over-year basis, Bitcoin mined grew 467% in the third quarter as Marathon's block rewards represented 4% of the total available miner rewards in the third quarter.

我們的每枚代幣的總成本（包括不含股票補償的一般管理費用）季度環比下降 12%，年減 41%。這種材料的改進不僅僅是優化的結果。它也反映了我們所取得的顯著規模效益，有助於降低每枚代幣的總成本。與去年同期相比，第三季開採的比特幣成長了 467%，因為 Marathon 的區塊獎勵佔第三季可用礦工獎勵總額的 4%。

Energization of more efficient mining rigs is also lowering our electricity consumption on a per hash basis. Our mining fleet is already among the most efficient in the industry and growing our hash rate with ever more efficient machines will continue to lower our cost per coin. This process is encouraging. Our operational priorities remain unchanged, and we're still focusing on growing our market share in the most efficient and sustainable methods possible while optimizing our operations to continually drive lower cost.

更有效率的採礦設備的通電也降低了我們每個哈希的電力消耗。我們的採礦機隊已經是業內最高效的，並且透過更有效率的機器來提高我們的哈希率將繼續降低我們每枚硬幣的成本。這個過程是令人鼓舞的。我們的營運重點保持不變，我們仍然專注於以最有效和可持續的方法增加我們的市場份額，同時優化我們的營運以不斷降低成本。

In a few minutes, I'll provide an update on our growth plans and how we're innovating to drive lower costs. But first, I'm going to turn the call over to Salman to discuss our financial results for the third quarter. Salman?

幾分鐘後，我將提供有關我們成長計劃的最新資訊以及我們如何透過創新來降低成本。但首先，我將把電話轉給薩爾曼，討論我們第三季的財務表現。薩勒曼？

We had an excellent third quarter with record Bitcoin production and higher margins. The company reported net income attributable to common stockholders of $64.1 million or $0.35 per diluted common share in the quarter, compared with a net loss of $72.5 million or $0.62 per share in the prior year quarter.

我們的第三季表現出色，比特幣產量創歷史新高，利潤率更高。該公司報告本季歸屬於普通股股東的淨利潤為 6,410 萬美元，或每股稀釋普通股 0.35 美元，而去年同期淨虧損為 7,250 萬美元，或每股 0.62 美元。

On a sequential basis, we grew net income $85.4 million versus the second quarter of 2023. The sequential improvement in profitability was partially due to a one-time net gain on extinguishment of debt for $82.6 million due to the notes payable exchange transaction.

與 2023 年第二季相比，我們的淨利潤環比增加了 8,540 萬美元。獲利能力的環比改善部分歸因於應付票據交換交易帶來的債務清償一次性淨收益 8,260 萬美元。

Third quarter revenues were a record $97.8 million, significantly higher than prior year revenues of $12.7 million. Average daily Bitcoin production grew to 38 bitcoin per day versus 7 bitcoin in third quarter of 2022 and up 18% from prior quarter levels. Revenue also benefited from a 32% higher average Bitcoin price compared to last year's third quarter.

第三季營收達到創紀錄的 9,780 萬美元，顯著高於去年同期的 1,270 萬美元。比特幣日均產量增至 38 比特幣，而 2022 年第三季為 7 比特幣，較上一季水準成長 18%。與去年第三季相比，比特幣平均價格上漲了 32％，這也使收入受益。

Our hosting and energy costs for the three months ended September 30 were $59.6 million compared to $13.8 million last year. The increase was due to significantly higher Bitcoin production, partially offset by lower production cost per coin and one-time exit costs for our Hardin, Montana facility last year.

截至 9 月 30 日的三個月，我們的託管和能源成本為 5,960 萬美元，而去年為 1,380 萬美元。這一增長是由於比特幣產量顯著增加，部分被每枚硬幣的生產成本降低以及去年蒙大拿州哈丁工廠的一次性退出成本所抵消。

Total cost of revenues, which includes depreciation and amortization, was $113.2 million compared to $40.1 million last year, which is an increase of 182%. Depreciation and amortization this quarter was $53.5 million, increasing by $27.3 million compared to the same quarter last year.

包括折舊和攤提在內的總收入成本為 1.132 億美元，與去年的 4,010 萬美元相比，成長了 182%。本季折舊和攤提為 5,350 萬美元，比去年同期增加 2,730 萬美元。

As Fred mentioned, we have grown our mining rig fleet significantly since last year. And as a result, increased our energized hash rate from 3.8 exahashes in the third quarter of 2022 to 19.1 exahashes in the third quarter of 2023. We also had one-time accelerated depreciation of our Hardin, Montana facility of $5.7 million last year.

正如 Fred 所提到的，自去年以來，我們的採礦設備數量顯著增加。結果，我們的活躍哈希率從2022 年第三季的3.8 exahash 增加到2023 年第三季的19.1 exahash。去年，我們也對蒙大拿州哈丁工廠進行了570 萬美元的一次性加速折舊。

Gain on digital assets was $31 million in the current year quarter versus none in the prior year third quarter. Impairment of digital assets on the other hand increased by $10.5 million year over year to $11.9 million, reflecting the increased size of our Bitcoin holdings, which was up 29% year over year.

本季數位資產收益為 3,100 萬美元，而去年第三季則沒有收益。另一方面，數位資產減損年增 1,050 萬美元，達到 1,190 萬美元，反映出我們持有的比特幣規模增加，年增 29%。

I want to note that the company's non-GAAP total margin, excluding depreciation and amortization, was $38.2 million this quarter, up $39.3 million compared with the same quarter last year. This is representative of our increased hash rate and our strategy to systematically improve efficiency as mentioned by Fred earlier, as well as higher Bitcoin prices in 2023.

我想指出的是，該公司本季的非 GAAP 總利潤率（不包括折舊和攤銷）為 3,820 萬美元，比去年同期增加了 3,930 萬美元。這代表了我們增加的算力和我們系統地提高效率的策略（正如 Fred 之前提到的），以及 2023 年比特幣價格的上漲。

Adjusted EBITDA improved to $43.7 million versus a $6.1 million loss in the prior year period. The drivers of the adjusted EBITDA improvement include total margin and improved -- excuse me -- total margin improvement, excluding depreciation and amortization, and the net realized gains on Bitcoin sales net of impairment, partially offset by an $8 million year-over-year increase in general and administrative expenses to support the growth of our business.

調整後 EBITDA 增至 4,370 萬美元，而上年同期虧損 610 萬美元。調整後 EBITDA 改善的驅動因素包括總利潤率和總利潤率的改善（不包括折舊和攤銷），以及扣除減值後的比特幣銷售淨實現收益，部分被同比 800 萬美元抵消增加一般和行政費用以支持我們業務的成長。

General and administrative expenses, excluding stock-based compensation were $14.6 million in the current period as compared with $8.7 million in the prior year period. This increase in expenses was primarily due to the increasing scale of business, including payroll and benefits, professional fees, and other costs. At the end of the third quarter, we had 48 employees, up from 20 a year ago, as we continue to opportunistically add talent across the organization.

本期一般及行政費用（不含股票薪酬）為 1,460 萬美元，去年同期為 870 萬美元。費用增加主要是由於業務規模不斷擴大，包括薪資和福利、專業費用和其他成本。截至第三季末，我們的員工數量從一年前的 20 名增加到 48 名，同時我們繼續在整個組織內尋找機會增加人才。

Turning to our Bitcoin holdings and cash position, unrestricted cash and cash equivalents total $101.2 million at September 30, which was up $37 million compared to last year. Also at September 30, we held approximately 13,716 bitcoin with a carrying value of $287 million on the balance sheet. Fair value of our holdings was approximately $370 million at quarter-end. The company's combined balance sheet of unrestricted cash and cash equivalents -- the company's combined balance of unrestricted cash and cash equivalents and fair value of Bitcoin was approximately $470 million.

談到我們的比特幣持有量和現金頭寸，截至 9 月 30 日，不受限制的現金和現金等價物總額為 1.012 億美元，比去年增加了 3,700 萬美元。同樣在 9 月 30 日，我們持有約 13,716 個比特幣，資產負債表上的帳面價值為 2.87 億美元。截至季末，我們所持股份的公允價值約為 3.7 億美元。該公司非限制性現金和現金等價物的合併資產負債表——該公司非限制性現金和現金等價物與比特幣公允價值的合併餘額約為 4.7 億美元。

We sold 2,300 bitcoin during the quarter, realizing cash proceeds of $65.6 million. These proceeds were utilized to fund operating expenses during the quarter, including cost of revenues for energy hosting and other cash operating expenses. During the quarter, we generated $37 million from at-the-market equity sales, which we intend to use for growth capital.

我們在本季出售了 2,300 個比特幣，實現了 6,560 萬美元的現金收益。這些收益用於資助本季的營運支出，包括能源託管的收入成本和其他現金營運支出。本季度，我們透過市場股票銷售獲得了 3700 萬美元，我們打算將其用於成長資本。

Also during the quarter, we took advantage of an opportunity to strengthen our balance sheet by exchanging $417 million in convertible notes for approximately $329 million in equity. This transaction reduced our debt by 56% and will save approximately $101 million or $0.55 per share in cash for our shareholders for principal and interest reduction.

同樣在本季度，我們利用機會將 4.17 億美元的可轉換票據交換為約 3.29 億美元的股本，從而強化了我們的資產負債表。這項交易使我們的債務減少了 56%，並將為我們的股東節省約 1.01 億美元或每股 0.55 美元的現金，用於減少本金和利息。

The combined cash and cash equivalents and Bitcoin on our balance sheet, along with reduced debt and access to at-the-market facility provides us ample amount of liquidity and optionality to strategically evaluate opportunities as we approach next year's halving. The increased value of combined cash and Bitcoin, along with reduced debt, is prudent risk management and a source of strength for the company's balance sheet as we enter a potentially turbulent time for the industry during halving next year. In fact, we have already started to see less efficient and undercapitalized miners looking to be acquired prior to the halving.

我們資產負債表上的現金和現金等價物以及比特幣的合併，加上債務的減少和市場融資的獲得，為我們提供了充足的流動性和選擇性，以便在我們接近明年減半時戰略性地評估機會。現金和比特幣組合價值的增加以及債務的減少，是審慎的風險管理，也是公司資產負債表實力的源泉，因為我們在明年減半期間進入了行業潛在的動盪時期。事實上，我們已經開始看到效率較低且資本不足的礦工希望在減半之前被收購。

As mentioned in our October production report, our unrestricted cash balance at October 31, was $156 million and we held approximately 13,396 bitcoin with a fair value of $464 million. In total, we had over $0.6 billion in unrestricted cash and Bitcoin at end of the last month.

正如我們在 10 月生產報告中所提到的，截至 10 月 31 日，我們的無限現金餘額為 1.56 億美元，我們持有約 13,396 個比特幣，公允價值為 4.64 億美元。截至上月底，我們總共擁有超過 6 億美元的不受限制的現金和比特幣。

In addition, during third quarter, we began making enhancements to our treasury management strategy. Specifically, we began hedging a portion of our Bitcoin holding. For those who are less familiar with the concept, hedging is designed to mitigate the impacts of extreme volatility in the near term, while maintaining the long-term strategy of maximizing the size and value of our treasury. It is designed with pre-defined risk terms and protects Marathon from sharp downward price movements, while still allowing us to take advantage of upside gains.

此外，在第三季度，我們開始增強我們的資金管理策略。具體來說，我們開始對沖我們持有的部分比特幣。對於那些不太熟悉這個概念的人來說，對沖旨在減輕近期極端波動的影響，同時維持最大化我們國庫規模和價值的長期策略。它是根據預先定義的風險條款設計的，可以保護 Marathon 免受價格急劇下跌的影響，同時仍允許我們利用上漲的收益。

Hedging is likely to have an impact on our earnings going forward as we recognize gains or losses from such hedging activity. Given Bitcoin's historical volatility, we believe this strategy is integral to improving the resilience of our organization, providing downside risk protection during volatile market conditions and maximizing our Bitcoin valuation potential.

對沖可能會對我們未來的收益產生影響，因為我們會從此類對沖活動中確認收益或損失。考慮到比特幣的歷史波動性，我們相信這項策略對於提高我們組織的彈性、在波動的市場條件下提供下行風險保護以及最大化我們的比特幣估值潛力至關重要。

We expect our future Bitcoin holdings will generally increase but will fluctuate depending on 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，但會根據營運和市場狀況而波動。我們打算主要透過我們的生產活動增加我們的比特幣持有量，我們也將繼續出售比特幣作為產生現金的手段，以資助每月的營運成本和一般公司用途。

And that completes my update. I will now turn it back over to Fred who will talk more about our operations and our ongoing plan. Fred?

我的更新就這樣完成了。我現在將其轉回給弗雷德，他將更多地談論我們的運營和正在進行的計劃。弗雷德？

Thanks, Salman. Our strong results this quarter represent the culmination of several years of hard work. When we first detailed our asset-light strategy in 2021, we believed investing in mining hardware over infrastructure was the most capital-efficient way to scale quickly. Today, we are proud to say that this strategy has worked as Marathon is now the leading public miner -- public Bitcoin miner in the US.

謝謝，薩爾曼。我們本季的強勁業績代表了幾年努力的成果。當我們在 2021 年首次詳細介紹我們的輕資產策略時，我們認為投資採礦硬體而不是基礎設施是快速擴張的最有效的資本效率方式。今天，我們很自豪地說，這個策略已經奏效，因為 Marathon 現在是美國領先的公共礦工——公共比特幣礦工。

In Q3, we mined 18% more Bitcoin and ended with 27% more hash rate than our closest competitor. This outstanding growth would not have been possible without our asset-light strategy. We estimate the company was able to invest 30% more capital in hash rate growth while our competitors were building infrastructure.

在第三季度，我們比最接近的競爭對手多開採了 18% 的比特幣，最終哈希率高出 27%。如果沒有我們的輕資產策略，就不可能實現如此出色的成長。我們估計，當我們的競爭對手正在建造基礎設施時，該公司能夠在哈希率成長方面投入 30% 的更多資本。

Marathon has now entered a new phase, one that prioritizes both capital and operating efficiency. Early in the third quarter, our joint venture in Abu Dhabi powered up, marking our first designed and operated site, as well as our first international location. This site began hashing less than six months after we signed the contracts, a testament to the strength of both our operations team and our joint venture partner Zero Two.

馬拉松現在已經進入了一個新的階段，一個資本和營運效率並重的階段。第三季初，我們在阿布達比的合資企業啟動，標誌著我們第一個設計和營運的工廠，也是我們的第一個國際工廠。在我們簽署合約後不到六個月，網站就開始進行哈希處理，這證明了我們的營運團隊和合資夥伴零二的實力。

Last month, our second site in Masdar City began energizing and the entire 250 megawatts from both UAE locations are still on track to energize fully by end of the year. In addition to proving out Marathon's technical expertise and execution capabilities, our success in the UAE is also helping shape the energy debate.

上個月，我們位於馬斯達爾城的第二個發電站開始通電，阿聯酋兩個地點的全部 250 兆瓦電力仍有望在今年年底前完全通電。除了證明 Marathon 的技術專長和執行能力之外，我們在阿聯酋的成功也有助於塑造能源辯論。

At the official ribbon cutting last month in Masdar City, we heard firsthand how Marathon's UAE ventures' ability to collaborate with the local grid operator has been a resounding success. But this is just the beginning. As more countries become aware of Bitcoin mining's unique capabilities to support grid stabilization and monetize stranded energy, we expect to see continued international growth towards our target of diversifying our hash rate globally.

在上個月在馬斯達爾城舉行的官方剪綵儀式上，我們親眼目睹了馬拉松阿聯酋企業與當地電網營運商合作的能力如何取得巨大成功。但這只是開始。隨著越來越多的國家意識到比特幣挖礦支援電網穩定和將擱淺能源貨幣化的獨特能力，我們預計國際比特幣挖礦將持續成長，以實現我們在全球範圍內實現哈希率多元化的目標。

In addition, our UAE success also demonstrate how our immersion technology can unlock stranded energy even in the most challenging climate. As a matter of fact, a number of leading competitors recently requested to visit our Abu Dhabi facility to see for themselves how we achieved 99% uptime in such a challenging operating environment.

此外，我們在阿聯酋的成功也表明，即使在最具挑戰性的氣候條件下，我們的浸入式技術也能釋放滯留的能源。事實上，許多領先的競爭對手最近要求參觀我們的阿布達比工廠，親眼看看我們如何在如此充滿挑戰的營運環境中實現 99% 的正常運作時間。

Our success in UAE has opened up new international opportunities in Africa and Latin America, most recently in Paraguay as we announced yesterday. This new joint venture is powered by the Itaipu Dam, one of the largest hydroelectric powerplants in the world. Paraguay produces approximately 32 terawatt hours of surplus energy per year and Bitcoin miners have the unique ability to co-locate right at the source and take advantage of the stranded energy.

我們在阿聯酋的成功為非洲和拉丁美洲開闢了新的國際機會，正如我們昨天所宣布的，最近在巴拉圭。這家新合資企業由世界上最大的水力發電廠之一伊泰普大壩提供動力。巴拉圭每年生產約 32 太瓦時的剩餘能源，比特幣礦工擁有獨特的能力，可在源頭集中部署並利用滯留的能源。

This helps local power generators monetize excess energy which otherwise would have been wasted or sold at a loss, without having to build expensive transmission lines and additional infrastructure. For Marathon, it provides attractive power costs for base load renewable energy. It is truly a win-win for both sides.

這有助於當地發電商將多餘的能源貨幣化，否則這些能源將被浪費或虧本出售，而無需建造昂貴的輸電線路和額外的基礎設施。對於馬拉鬆來說，它為基本負載再生能源提供了有吸引力的電力成本。這對雙方來說確實是雙贏。

Closer to home, we recently announced a pilot project in Utah that is exclusively powered by landfill methane gas. Methane is 80 times more damaging to the environment than carbon dioxide and Marathon is uniquely positioned to capture and convert this environmentally harmful gas into inexpensive renewable energy. This initial pilot is expected to have all-in hosting costs below $0.04 per kilowatt hour, significantly below the average cost to mine in the US. But we think we can do even better.

言歸正傳，我們最近宣布了在猶他州的一個試點項目，該項目完全由垃圾掩埋場甲烷氣體提供動力。甲烷對環境的破壞性是二氧化碳的 80 倍，而 Marathon 具有獨特的優勢，可以捕捉這種對環境有害的氣體並將其轉化為廉價的可再生能源。預計該初步試點的總託管成本將低於每千瓦時 0.04 美元，遠低於美國的平均挖礦成本。但我們認為我們可以做得更好。

Our ultimate goal is zero cost energy. You may ask, how is this possible? In addition to creating innovative ways to leverage energy that was previously inaccessible, we can repurpose the heat generated by Bitcoin mining towards revenue generating projects such as heating greenhouses, shrimp farming, and other forms of low-grade industrial heat processes. We look forward to sharing more of the innovative projects that we're exploring in the months ahead.

我們的最終目標是零成本能源。你可能會問，這怎麼可能？除了創造創新方法來利用以前無法獲得的能源之外，我們還可以將比特幣挖礦產生的熱量重新用於創收項目，例如供暖溫室、蝦養殖和其他形式的低級工業熱過程。我們期待在未來幾個月分享更多我們正在探索的創新項目。

Why are we still focused on low cost or even zero cost energy? Well, as many of you know, Bitcoin mining revenues are impacted by the halving events that occur every four years when block reward subsidies are reduced by 50% to Bitcoin terms. The next halving is less than six months away.

為什麼我們仍然關注低成本甚至零成本能源？好吧，正如你們許多人所知，比特幣挖礦收入受到每四年一次減半事件的影響，即按比特幣計算，區塊獎勵補貼減少 50%。距離下一次減半還有不到六個月的時間。

Over time, Bitcoin miners must reduce the reliance on block subsidies and increasing Bitcoin prices. We believe that long term, we can operate profitably by consuming wasted energy while monetizing heat offtake. The early results of our initial pilots look very promising. By reducing our dependence on block subsidies, we greatly improve the long-term viability of the enterprise.

隨著時間的推移，比特幣礦工必須減少對區塊補貼的依賴並提高比特幣價格。我們相信，從長遠來看，我們可以透過消耗浪費的能源，同時將取熱貨幣化來實現盈利。我們最初試點的早期結果看起來非常有希望。透過減少對整體補貼的依賴，我們大大提高了企業的長期生存能力。

So what is Marathon doing to prepare? Our strategy has been to reduce costs and lower our risk profile as we continue to grow our hash rate. In addition to strong operating results, we also improved our financial profile this quarter. As Salman mentioned, we took advantage of the steep discount in our convertible debt to strengthen our balance sheet.

那麼馬拉松正在做哪些準備呢？我們的策略是隨著我們不斷提高哈希率，降低成本並降低風險狀況。除了強勁的經營業績外，本季我們還改善了財務狀況。正如薩爾曼所提到的，我們利用可轉換債務的大幅折扣來強化我們的資產負債表。

We believe this traction was accretive to our existing shareholders as the 21% on the principal amount due, more than offset the additional equity issue. It also positions Marathon to capitalize on any near-term turbulence in the Bitcoin mining sector. Our balance sheet is now a source of strength that allows us to focus on further increasing efficiency and lowering cost.

我們相信這種吸引力對我們現有的股東來說是有好處的，因為到期本金的 21% 足以抵消額外的股權發行。它還使馬拉松能夠利用比特幣採礦業的任何近期動盪。我們的資產負債表現在是力量的源泉，使我們能夠專注於進一步提高效率和降低成本。

In the meantime, we're still focused on growth. We expect to reach 26 exahash by the end of 2023 and plan to grow our hash rate by approximately 30% in 2024. We will maintain a flexible approach leveraging hosting providers and local experts to quickly test deployment in new geographies, while we continue to prioritize owned and operated sites for major deployment. We will also continue to innovate and continue to seek new ways of lowering costs by unlocking stranded energy and leveraging heat offtake.

同時，我們仍然專注於成長。我們預計在 2023 年底達到 26 exahash，並計劃在 2024 年將算力提高約 30%。我們將保持靈活的方法，利用託管提供者和當地專家來快速測試新地區的部署，同時我們繼續優先考慮擁有並運作用於主要部署的站點。我們也將繼續創新，並繼續尋求透過釋放滯留能源和利用熱量排放來降低成本的新方法。

With our strong results in recent progress on these strategic priorities, we believe we are on track to become one of the largest, most efficient and technically advanced Bitcoin mining operations in the world. Combined, Marathon is well positioned for the halving, regardless of where Bitcoin prices are heading next year.

憑藉我們最近在這些策略重點方面取得的強勁成果，我們相信我們有望成為世界上最大、最高效、技術最先進的比特幣挖礦業務之一。綜上所述，無論明年比特幣價格走向如何，馬拉松都處於減半的有利位置。

Let me be clear, we've never been more bullish on Bitcoin. The sustained growth in adoption, use cases and overall acceptance is very encouraging for the long-term prospects and we're excited about our future.

讓我明確一點，我們從未如此看好比特幣。採用率、用例和整體接受度的持續成長對於長期前景來說非常令人鼓舞，我們對我們的未來感到興奮。

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 most popular questions submitted by investors through 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透過我們的問答平台提交的一些最常見的問題。

Our first question comes from CK, who asks -- actually it's a two-part question. So the first part is, why do analysts still favor Riot and Cleanspark over Marathon after taking extreme steps to extinguish long-term debt in Q3? Fred?

我們的第一個問題來自 CK，他問——實際上這是一個由兩部分組成的問題。所以第一部分是，為什麼在第三季採取極端措施消除長期債務後，分析師仍然青睞 Riot 和 Cleanspark 而不是 Marathon？弗雷德？

Marathon still has more debt than our peers, and we're transitioning our business model. Our reported cost per bitcoin is also higher, and we aim to close this gap in 2024.

馬拉鬆的債務仍然比同行多，我們正在轉變我們的商業模式。我們報告的每比特幣成本也較高，我們的目標是在 2024 年縮小這一差距。

Also, as you look at our business, we believe that optimizing our costs through the benefit of some of the opportunities that will be available post-halving here will enable us to continue to drive costs down significantly.

此外，當您審視我們的業務時，我們相信，透過利用減半後提供的一些機會來優化我們的成本，將使我們能夠繼續大幅降低成本。

Great. The second part is, if diluting to reduce debt in the mid-$9 range is accretive to shareholders, why have no insiders bought common stock when the stock is dipped into the [$8s]? You also want to take that one, Fred?

偉大的。第二部分是，如果透過稀釋以減少 9 美元中間的債務對股東來說是有利的，那麼為什麼當股票跌至 [8 美元] 時沒有內部人士購買普通股？你也想買那個嗎，弗雷德？

Sure. So SEC rules restrict insider buying under certain conditions, especially when executives and insiders are party to material nonpublic information. Typically public companies like Marathon would have a window that is open to buy stock. That starts typically a few days after earnings release and would close typically somewhere around one month before end of quarter, which is a very small window.

當然。因此，美國證券交易委員會的規則在某些情況下限制內部人士購買，特別是當高階主管和內部人士掌握重大非公開資訊時。通常，像馬拉松這樣的上市公司都會有一個買股票的窗口。通常在財報發布後幾天開始，通常在季度末前一個月左右關閉，這是一個非常小的窗口。

As we stated before, we have a lot of major initiatives underway, which means that the management team is currently very much in hold of or have knowledge of material nonpublic information, which potentially would be a violation if we were in the market buying. That being said, we remain very bullish on the stock, and we continue to look forward to seeing how we can drive shareholder value going forward.

正如我們之前所說，我們正在進行許多重大舉措，這意味著管理團隊目前在很大程度上掌握或了解重大非公開信息，如果我們在市場上買入，這可能會構成違規。話雖這麼說，我們仍然非常看好該股票，並且繼續期待看到我們如何推動股東價值向前發展。

Our next question comes from Garrett A., who asks why is MARA stock not increased the degree that Bitcoin has in the past month? It's a timely topic. Fred, you want to give your thoughts?

我們的下一個問題來自 Garrett A.，他問為什麼 MARA 股票在過去一個月沒有像比特幣那樣上漲？這是一個及時的話題。弗雷德，你想談談你的想法嗎？

Again, as we said earlier, we are very focused on lowering our cost and leveraging our strong balance sheet. We believe that shareholders are starting to look at the halving. And as you look across the whole mining sector, many of our peers have also seen their share prices declining, especially in the most recent few weeks.

同樣，正如我們之前所說，我們非常注重降低成本並利用我們強大的資產負債表。我們相信股東已經開始考慮減半了。當你縱觀整個採礦業時，我們的許多同業也看到他們的股價下跌，特別是在最近幾週。

We believe that there's certain concerns regarding the ETF launching and the impact that that may have on Bitcoin miners as well. But as I said earlier, we remain very bullish, and we think that this is going to be an excellent opportunity for Marathon to continue to grow.

我們認為，人們對 ETF 的推出及其可能對比特幣礦商產生的影響存在一定的擔憂。但正如我之前所說，我們仍然非常看好，我們認為這將是馬拉松繼續發展的絕佳機會。

Good. Let's move to our third question from Logan W. who asks, will you continue to dilute the shares? I'm sure you've heard this one a lot recently. Salman, you want to start on this one?

好的。讓我們轉向 Logan W. 提出的第三個問題，他問，你們會繼續稀釋股份嗎？我相信你最近常聽到這句話。薩爾曼，你想從這個開始嗎？

Sure, Logan. Thank you for the question. We use equity capital for accretive growth capital -- growth projects. And as Fred had mentioned earlier in the call, we have a very strong pipeline of growth projects that we as a company and management team are very excited about. We have the -- obviously, we have the option to source the growth either through selling Bitcoin or accessing capital markets.

當然，洛根。感謝你的提問。我們將股權資本用於增值成長資本－成長項目。正如弗雷德早些時候在電話會議中提到的那樣，我們擁有非常強大的成長專案管道，我們作為公司和管理團隊對此感到非常興奮。顯然，我們可以選擇透過出售比特幣或進入資本市場來獲取成長。

And what our internal analysis shows is a combination of Bitcoin sales to fund operating cost and equity for growth capital to be the best source of capital. Any additional shares that we sell through are at-the-market, ATM, are for accretive growth projects. And look, those projects have to meet our internal double-digit hurdle rate, which means that the rate of returns have to be accretive to the shares that we issue.

我們的內部分析表明，將比特幣銷售用於資助營運成本和成長資本的股權相結合，成為最佳資本來源。我們透過市場 ATM 出售的任何額外股份均用於增值成長項目。看，這些項目必須滿足我們內部兩位數的最低門檻利率，這意味著回報率必須使我們發行的股票增值。

Our management team meets once a month to revisit our source of capital and this strategy has worked well for our company but can be changed with changing market conditions and Bitcoin pricing situation for which we will adjust accordingly.

我們的管理團隊每月開會一次，重新審視我們的資金來源，這項策略對我們公司來說效果很好，但可能會隨著市場條件和比特幣定價情況的變化而改變，我們將相應調整。

Now, this has allowed us to grow our Bitcoin holdings. As you know, we now have approximately $0.5 billion worth of Bitcoin on our balance sheet or dollar equivalent. And we have proven our ability to find and invest in attractive growth opportunities as Fred had alluded to earlier. In summary, everything we do has only one overarching goal, which is to maximize shareholder value. Hopefully, this answered your questions.

現在，這使我們能夠增加比特幣持有量。如您所知，我們的資產負債表上現在有價值約 5 億美元的比特幣或等值美元。正如弗雷德之前提到的，我們已經證明了我們有能力尋找和投資有吸引力的成長機會。總而言之，我們所做的一切只有一個整體目標，那就是股東價值最大化。希望這能回答您的問題。

Great. Our next question comes from Derek G. who asks, why did management choose to buy back the convertible debt instead of buying Bitcoin and increasing the hurdle value up to the debt level? A good way of looking at it. Maybe Salman, you can start on this one and Fred, you can finish it up?

偉大的。我們的下一個問題來自 Derek G.，他問，為什麼管理層選擇回購可轉換債務，而不是購買比特幣並將門檻值提高到債務水平？一個很好的看待它的方式。也許薩爾曼，你可以開始這個，弗雷德，你可以完成它？

Sure. Thank you, Derek, for the question. We are the largest Bitcoin hodler in the public company mining space. So we truly believe in Bitcoin, and we hold to that HODL, with that strategy as much as we can after paying for our operating costs. And we continue to grow our Bitcoin holding beyond meeting our operating cash cost needs.

當然。謝謝德里克提出的問題。我們是上市公司挖礦領域最大的比特幣持有者。因此，我們真正相信比特幣，並且我們堅持持有這種策略，在支付營運成本後我們會盡可能地採用這種策略。我們持續增加比特幣持有量，以滿足我們的營運現金成本需求。

As we went through the bear market analysis last year, it became important to reduce our debt and prepare for the next bear market. And we felt it was prudent balance sheet risk management to reduce the debt to prepare for turbulent times. As I said earlier, we are long on Bitcoin price, yet we want to be prepared to weather the volatility that could result during the halving given concerning macroeconomic environment.

當我們去年進行熊市分析時，減少債務並為下一次熊市做準備就變得很重要。我們認為減少債務以應對動盪時期是審慎的資產負債表風險管理。正如我之前所說，我們看多比特幣價格，但考慮到宏觀經濟環境，我們希望做好準備，以應對減半期間可能導致的波動。

While we hope the Bitcoin price will act like previous halvings, the data shows us otherwise. Hope is never a good strategy as it's said, and certainly we hope that the prices behave like they did in the previous halvings, but certainly we want to be prepared for any bear market while being prepared to grow as the pricing stabilizes.

雖然我們希望比特幣價格會像之前的減半一樣，但數據告訴我們事實並非如此。正如人們所說，希望從來都不是一個好的策略，當然我們希望價格表現得像之前減半時那樣，但我們當然希望為任何熊市做好準備，同時準備好隨著價格穩定而增長。

With that stronger balance sheet, with reduced debt provides us options and ability to strategically act when other inefficient or undercapitalized miners may not be able to survive. And the short-term drop in Bitcoin could be devastating for companies not appropriately capitalized, as we talked about earlier. In addition to risk management, the economics of the notes exchange were attractive for us and resulted in over $100 million dollars shareholder value creation in real cash cost savings, which was icing on the cake.

憑藉更強大的資產負債表和減少的債務，我們可以在其他效率低下或資本不足的礦商可能無法生存時採取策略行動。正如我們之前談到的，比特幣的短期下跌對於資本不足的公司來說可能是毀滅性的。除了風險管理之外，票據交換的經濟效益對我們也很有吸引力，並透過實際現金成本節省為股東創造了超過 1 億美元的價值，這簡直是錦上添花。

Excellent. Fred, do you want to add anything to that? Just giving off that --

出色的。弗雷德，你想補充什麼嗎？只是發出來——

Yeah, I think the -- to the point of why didn't we buy Bitcoin with equity? I think then we would just be emulating micro strategies -- strategy where they lever up their balance sheet to buy Bitcoin and that really is the primary driver of the value of that company. We believe as a Bitcoin miner, we generate much more value by using capital to drive growth.

是的，我認為──我們為什麼不用股權購買比特幣？我認為我們只會效仿微觀策略——他們利用資產負債表購買比特幣的策略，這確實是該公司價值的主要驅動力。我們相信，作為比特幣礦工，我們透過利用資本推動成長來創造更多價值。

And I think if you look at where we are positioned today with the growth we have ahead, initiatives that we're working on, we're very well positioned today to take advantage of organic and inorganic opportunities as they present themselves. And as we've said before, we believe there will be many inorganic opportunities to acquire very low cost assets, especially attractive power contracts in the potentially turbulent times ahead post the halving.

我認為，如果你看看我們今天所處的位置，以及我們未來的成長和我們正在進行的舉措，我們今天處於非常有利的位置，可以充分利用有機和無機的機會。正如我們之前所說，我們相信，在減半後的潛在動盪時期，將會有許多無機機會來收購成本極低的資產，尤其是有吸引力的電力合約。

Great. That leads right into our last question from our shareholders, which is from Edgar M. who asks, what makes this company the best option when it comes to Bitcoin mining? What makes you different? We'll let you do that one, Fred.

偉大的。這直接引出了股東提出的最後一個問題，即埃德加·M.（Edgar M.）提出的問題，是什麼讓這家公司成為比特幣挖礦的最佳選擇？是什麼讓你與眾不同？我們會讓你這麼做的，弗雷德。

So I think really it comes down to a combination of things. Scale. We're the largest Bitcoin miner out there from a self-mining perspective and we'll continue to grow. That also gives us certain advantages in that partners want to work with us. And it gives us the ability to do joint ventures with the excellent partners like we have in Abu Dhabi and other places.

所以我認為這實際上取決於多種因素的結合。規模。從自挖礦的角度來看，我們是最大的比特幣礦商，我們將繼續成長。這也為我們帶來了一定的優勢，因為合作夥伴願意與我們合作。它使我們能夠與我們在阿布達比和其他地方的優秀合作夥伴建立合資企業。

And as you'll continue to see as we grow especially in these new market areas whether it be landfill natural gas or other places like that, we will continue to leverage this concept as a way to grow in an accelerated way, being able to optimize the leverage on our balance sheet in the most capital efficient way.

正如您將繼續看到的那樣，隨著我們的發展，特別是在這些新的市場領域，無論是垃圾掩埋場天然氣還是其他類似的地方，我們將繼續利用這一概念作為加速成長的方式，能夠優化以最具資本效率的方式對我們的資產負債表施加槓桿作用。

The other thing is our tech stack. We're very unique in the mining space in that we have a fully vertically integrated tech stack. As can be seen by what we've done in Abu Dhabi, our ability to deploy single phase immersion technology for cooling in most probably the most grueling environment in the world for Bitcoin miners has been a resounding success. Excellent uptime and very efficient mining, we believe that sets the stage for how we'll expand with immersion going forward.

另一件事是我們的技術堆疊。我們在採礦領域非常獨特，因為我們擁有完全垂直整合的技術堆疊。從我們在阿布達比所做的事情可以看出，我們在世界上對比特幣礦工來說可能是最艱苦的環境中部署單相浸入式技術進行冷卻的能力取得了巨大的成功。出色的正常運作時間和非常高效的挖礦，我們相信這為我們未來如何擴展沉浸式體驗奠定了基礎。

But that's not all. We also have proprietary firmware, where we now have the ability, post-halving, to take our miners and run them in a more power-efficient way, lowering our cost to mine Bitcoin, or other people will have to run stock firmware on their miners and not be able to dial back the power consumption and keep their miners running, even though it may not be profitable to mine.

但這還不是全部。我們還擁有專有固件，我們現在有能力在減半後讓我們的礦工以更節能的方式運行它們，從而降低我們開採比特幣的成本，否則其他人將不得不在他們的設備上運行庫存固件礦工無法降低功耗並保持礦工運行，即使挖礦可能無利可圖。

Our balance sheet is extremely strong with $600 million between cash and Bitcoin at today's prices and we have great liquidity in our stock which gives us the ability to be very opportunistic, should accretive and attractive growth opportunities appear in the market. We also have optionality because we're continually focused on lowering our cost per coin as we transition. We can grow, energize new capacity, and optimize our existing capacity which has an excellent effect on our results as you can see in the most recent quarter.

我們的資產負債表非常強勁，以今天的價格計算，現金和比特幣之間的金額為6 億美元，而且我們的股票擁有巨大的流動性，這使我們能夠在市場上出現增值和有吸引力的成長機會時抓住機會。我們還有選擇權，因為我們在轉型過程中不斷致力於降低每枚代幣的成本。我們可以成長、激發新產能並優化現有產能，這對我們的業績產生了極好的影響，正如您在最近一個季度所看到的那樣。

And I think lastly, our people. I believe we have one of the best management teams in the industry and have some of the best talent across our organization in this industry. There are not many companies who can execute the way our team has executed this year with as few people as we have, generating the results that we've done. And I am very, very proud of our people and very grateful for all the hard work that they put in.

我想最後是我們的人民。我相信我們擁有業內最好的管理團隊之一，並且在我們的組織中擁有該行業最優秀的人才。沒有多少公司能夠像我們團隊今年所執行的那樣，用最少的人員來執行，並產生我們所做的結果。我為我們的員工感到非常非常自豪，並非常感謝他們所付出的辛勤工作。

Couldn't agree more. Well done. In the interest of time, I think we'll wrap up this section of the Q&A. Again, we really appreciate the questions and interests. I'm now going to turn the call back to our operator to open the line to questions from our covering analysts. Sherry, back to you.

完全同意。做得好。由於時間關係，我想我們將結束這部分的問答。再次，我們非常感謝您提出的問題和興趣。我現在將把電話轉回給我們的接線員，以解答我們的分析師的提問。雪莉，回到你身邊。

(Operator Instructions) Chase White, Compass Point.

（操作員指示）Chase White，羅盤點。

Thanks for taking my questions. So my rough math suggests your hosting cost in the quarter on at least on $1 per kilowatt hour basis, something like $0.057, which is much better than prior quarters. I mean, you can see it in -- you grew average operating hash rate by 18% and costs only grew by 8%. So how should we think about that hosting cost on a per kilowatt hour basis going forward for the US fleet as we head into 2024?

感謝您回答我的問題。因此，我的粗略計算表明，本季度的託管成本至少為每千瓦時 1 美元，約為 0.057 美元，這比前幾季度要好得多。我的意思是，你可以看到——平均運行哈希率增長了 18%，而成本僅增長了 8%。那麼，當我們進入 2024 年時，我們應該如何考慮美國機隊每度電的託管成本？

Great question. So obviously when you begin an optimization effort like we did recently, there's some low-hanging fruit and we've been able to take advantage of that, hence the great results we had. There's still more fruit to harvest. We think as we continue to work with our hosting partners and actively manage them, there's still opportunities to drive further efficiencies in what we're doing.

很好的問題。很明顯，當您開始像我們最近所做的優化工作時，就會有一些容易實現的成果，我們已經能夠利用它，因此我們取得了很好的結果。還有更多的果實等待收穫。我們認為，隨著我們繼續與託管合作夥伴合作並積極管理他們，仍然有機會進一步提高我們正在做的事情的效率。

There are also opportunities for us to work with hosting partners to renegotiate some of the agreements, especially as now we are taking on a greater and greater responsibility for the operation of sites and optimization. And I think the combination of more owned and operated together with more efficiently managed sites is going to continue to drive decrease in cost to mine Bitcoin.

我們還有機會與託管合作夥伴合作重新談判一些協議，特別是現在我們在網站運作和優化方面承擔越來越大的責任。我認為更多擁有和經營的網站與更有效管理的網站相結合將繼續推動比特幣開採成本的下降。

Got it. That's helpful. And you mentioned 30% hash rate growth in 2024 from the expected 26 exahash at the end of this year. Could you just give us a sense of a roadmap for that 30% hash rate growth in 2024 and what pieces kind of drive that?

知道了。這很有幫助。您提到 2024 年算力將比今年底的預期 26 exahash 成長 30%。您能否為我們介紹一下 2024 年哈希率增長 30% 的路線圖以及哪些因素推動了這一增長？

So we've already talked a little bit about the Paraguay expansion. There are other opportunities. We haven't announced that we're pretty far down the road in finalizing agreements and projects that will bear fruit in the first half of next year, as well as in the back half of next year.

我們已經討論了一些關於巴拉圭擴張的事情。還有其他機會。我們還沒有宣布，我們在敲定將於明年上半年和下半年取得成果的協議和項目方面已經取得了相當大的進展。

So I think it's going to be a little lumpy, to be fair. You'll see a few exahash in the first half of the year and then the balance kind of backloaded towards the second half of the year. But the goal is really focusing on the cost side of it as we expand this capacity.

所以公平地說，我認為這會有點不穩定。您會在上半年看到一些 exahash，然後餘額會在下半年有所回升。但隨著我們擴大產能，我們的目標實際上是專注於成本方面。

Got you. Very helpful. Thank you.

明白你了。很有幫助。謝謝。

Lucas Pipes, B. Riley Securities.

盧卡斯‧派普斯 (Lucas Pipes)，B. 萊利證券 (Riley Securities)。

Yeah, hi. Thank you very much, operator. This is actually Nick Giles on the call, asking a question for Lucas. Fred and team, just wanted to get your sense of how would you frame up a hurdle rate for the sector in terms of new projects?

是的，嗨。非常感謝您，接線生。這實際上是尼克吉爾斯（Nick Giles）在打電話，向盧卡斯問了一個問題。弗雷德和他的團隊只是想了解一下您將如何制定該行業新專案的最低門檻？

I think each miner has their own individual weighted cost of capital. And so I'm not going to opine on our colleagues in the industry. We're looking typically at projects that we would, in an ideal world, should return north of 20%.

我認為每個礦工都有自己的加權資本成本。因此，我不會對業內同事發表意見。我們通常會尋找在理想情況下回報率超過 20% 的項目。

That's helpful, Fred. I know one of your peers had called out a hurdle rate of around closer to 30% or 35%. So I just was trying to understand what your take was. But yeah, thank you very much for that. I'll return to the queue for now.

這很有幫助，弗雷德。我知道你的一位同行提出了接近 30% 或 35% 的門檻率。所以我只是想了解你的看法。但是，是的，非常感謝你。我現在會回到隊列中。

As a reminder --

提醒一句 -

I'm sorry, I want to follow up and clarify a little bit on the answer. The hurdle rates is a funny business in the sense that depends on what kind of pricing assumptions you have and obviously our pricing may be a little bit more conservative than some of our competitors when it comes to next year. Hopefully, that answers the question.

抱歉，我想跟進並澄清一下答案。從某種意義上說，最低門檻利率是一件有趣的事情，它取決於您的定價假設，顯然我們的定價可能比我們的一些競爭對手在明年更保守。希望這能回答問題。

That's fair. I appreciate that thought.

這還算公平。我很欣賞這個想法。

Yeah.

是的。

(Operator Instructions) Kevin Dede, H.C. Wainwright.

（操作員說明）Kevin Dede, H.C.溫賴特。

Hi, Fred, Salman. Thanks for taking my questions. Lots of them for you Fred, I'll try to restrain myself. Can you give us some more insight on the 5 exahash you just bought and where you think that's going to go and what sort of -- I mean that's kind of a parallel to Chase's question. And then maybe you could offer a little bit more on your hedging strategy.

嗨，弗雷德，薩爾曼。感謝您回答我的問題。很多都是給你的，弗雷德，我會盡力克制自己。你能給我們更多關於你剛剛購買的 5 exahash 的見解嗎？你認為它會去哪裡以及是什麼樣的——我的意思是這與 Chase 的問題類似。然後也許你可以提供更多關於你的對沖策略的資訊。

Just to start, I'll defer the hedging question to Salman, but on the growth perspective, you've gotten a little bit of a taste of what we're doing as we look at these pilots. We have a number of growth initiatives we're doing. And instead of committing large amounts of capital to an initiative before it's proven, we're doing lots of pilots.

首先，我將把對沖問題交給薩爾曼，但從成長的角度來看，當我們看到這些試點計畫時，你已經對我們正在做的事情有了一些了解。我們正在實施許多成長計劃。我們不會在一項計劃得到證實之前就投入大量資金，而是進行大量試點。

When a pilot proves itself out, then we can have the confidence to deploy capital. It also lets us compare and contrast different potential opportunities, so we're optimizing to the best return on our capital that we provide. So we've talked about the Paraguay expansion.

當試點證明了自己，我們就有信心配置資本。它還讓我們可以比較和對比不同的潛在機會，因此我們正在優化我們提供的最佳資本回報。我們已經討論了巴拉圭的擴張。

We've taken an approach more recently where we're -- we're not going to go out there and talk loudly about our plans because we're doing lots of things and we prefer to really talk to the market when things have been cemented and we're actually executing. I think that we've set a pretty high hurdle for this year to hit our 23 exahash to hash goal. And I think we learned the lesson that really the market would appreciate us to talk less about our growth plans in specifics and more about actual growth execution.

我們最近採取了一種方法——我們不會出去大聲談論我們的計劃，因為我們正在做很多事情，我們更願意在事情發生後真正與市場對話。鞏固下來，我們實際上正在執行。我認為我們今年設定了一個相當高的障礙，以達到 23 exahash 的哈希目標。我認為我們吸取了教訓，市場確實希望我們少談論具體的成長計劃，多談論實際的成長執行。

And with that, I'll let Salman answer the question about the hedges.

接下來，我將讓薩爾曼回答有關樹籬的問題。

Sure, thank you Fred. Thanks, Kevin, for asking this question. The -- look, our hedging strategy is pretty -- it's normal business practice from a financial risk management standpoint. This is a newer industry, if you like, but in more established sophisticated industries that are commodity price exposed like oil and gas, natural gas, gold. You see hedging strategies deployed by companies to manage their portfolio. And in our case, we view that as a good risk management practice from a balance sheet management standpoint.

當然，謝謝弗雷德。謝謝凱文提出這個問題。看，我們的對沖策略非常漂亮，從金融風險管理的角度來看，這是正常的商業實踐。如果你願意的話，這是一個較新的行業，但在更成熟的複雜行業中，這些行業的商品價格受到暴露，如石油和天然氣、天然氣、黃金。您會看到公司為管理其投資組合而部署的對沖策略。就我們而言，從資產負債表管理的角度來看，我們認為這是一個好的風險管理實務。

As we have a sizable, one of the largest HODL of Bitcoin on our balance sheet, it certainly requires us to deploy certain prudent practices, and this is part of that. So the way to view that is that we look at from a hedging standpoint our next month's needs and essentially next couple of months needs from a cash flow perspective and we try to target a certain percentage of our holding and use costless callers that protects us from the downside risk while keeping the upside potential on our side.

由於我們的資產負債表上擁有相當大的、最大的比特幣持有量之一，這當然要求我們採取某些審慎的做法，而這就是其中的一部分。因此，看待這個問題的方法是，我們從對沖的角度來看我們下個月的需求，基本上從現金流的角度來看未來幾個月的需求，我們嘗試以我們持有的一定比例為目標，並使用無成本的呼叫者來保護我們免受下行風險，同時保持上行潛力。

And these are costless callers, which means that within the range of the price, if the price remains within a range, we will end up pretty much being costless. Now in a situation where the price lands between the downside protection and the ceiling between the swaps or the options or the costless callers, there could be a cost to us. And that goes through the P&L yet providing us the upside on the big point on the balance sheet and also protecting the downside risk.

這些都是無成本的呼叫者，這意味著在價格範圍內，如果價格保持在一定範圍內，我們最終將幾乎是無成本的。現在，在價格落在下行保護和掉期、選擇權或無成本呼叫者之間的上限之間的情況下，我們可能會付出代價。這貫穿了損益表，同時為我們提供了資產負債表上重要點的上行空間，並保護了下行風險。

Got it, Salman. Costless callers, that's kind of what I was looking for. Fred, last one, I'll hold myself back. The October production report showed, I think maybe four -- sorry, three of the four operating facilities you have in North America were hashing at rates below 90%. And I'm just -- I know you talked about maybe being more involved in the management, the direct management of those sites, but maybe you can add a little bit more color on how you might see you move those efficiencies further up. I mean that to me would be probably the most instrumental move you could make in improving your cost per coin.

明白了，薩爾曼。免費呼叫者，這正是我所尋找的。弗雷德，最後一位，我會忍住。 10 月的生產報告顯示，我想可能有四個——抱歉，你們在北美擁有的四個營運設施中的三個的哈希率低於 90%。我只是 - 我知道您談到可能更多地參與管理，直接管理這些站點，但也許您可以在如何進一步提高效率方面添加更多色彩。我的意思是，對我來說，這可能是您在提高每枚硬幣的成本方面可以採取的最有用的舉措。

Yeah, so obviously we're very focused on the lowest performing site and you know the McCamey, Texas site has clearly been that site. That's the site where we've had to apply the most amount of resources. Our Ellendale site has been a very good performer, as is the Jamestown site.

是的，顯然我們非常關注性能最低的站點，您知道德克薩斯州麥卡米站點顯然就是該站點。這是我們必須應用最多資源的網站。我們的埃倫代爾站點表現非常出色，詹姆斯敦站點也是如此。

There's been some infrastructure downtime for maintenance issues at some of the sites as well. But I think what you'll tend to find is, provided we are in a period where there is not a lot of curtailment due to requirements of the grid, we're going to keep pushing that performance number to 90 and above as much as possible.

一些站點的基礎設施也因維護問題而停機。但我認為您會發現，只要我們處於一個不會因電網要求而大量削減電力的時期，我們將繼續將該性能數字推至 90 及以上可能的。

And what do you think your timeline is to that? Should we see that step up incrementally, or do you think there should be a nice jump before we get to maybe a higher power consumption season in January and February?

您認為您的時間表是什麼？我們是否應該看到這一增量逐步增加，或者您認為在一月和二月進入更高的電力消耗季節之前應該有一個不錯的跳躍？

So I think it's going to be a little seasonal, but I think it'll be a gradual move. Part of this is you implement a change, you test it, you iterate, you make sure it sticks, and then you broaden it out. It's kind of like when we deploy firmware in our miners, we do it in a limited number of miners initially, make sure everything is operating, and then we scale it as we go across the site.

所以我認為這會有點季節性，但我認為這將是一個漸進的過程。其中一部分是你實施一個改變，你測試它，你迭代，你確保它堅持下去，然後你擴大它。這有點像當我們在礦工中部署韌體時，我們最初在有限數量的礦工中進行，確保一切正常運行，然後在整個站點上進行擴展。

Same thing with any changes, whether it's a network optimization, whether it's deploying cooling or switch gear, there are a whole series of different things we're constantly experimenting with to try to optimize and something that works at one site may not work at another site. And so it's very much an iterative process.

任何變化都是一樣的，無論是網路優化，無論是部署冷卻​​還是開關設備，我們都會不斷嘗試優化一系列不同的事情，在一個站點上有效的東西可能在另一個站點上不起作用地點。所以這在很大程度上是一個迭代過程。

And I have a background in lean from a manufacturing perspective and we've really applied a ties in sort of lean approach to this where constant never-ending improvement is one of our core values in what we're doing here. And we hold the operations teams to metrics where they need to continually improve performance of the sites. And so it's an iterative process.

從製造角度來看，我有精益背景，我們確實應用了某種精益方法來解決這個問題，持續不斷的改進是我們在這裡所做的事情的核心價值之一。我們讓營運團隊遵守需要不斷提高網站效能的指標。所以這是一個迭代的過程。

Understood. Thank you so much, Fred. And really appreciate you indulging me. Back in the queue. Thank you.

明白了。非常感謝你，弗雷德。真的很感謝你對我的縱容。回到隊列中。謝謝。

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

謝謝。至此，沒有其他問題了。我將把電話轉回克里斯布倫德勒 (Chris Brendler) 作結束語。

Okay, well thank you all for your time today. If you have any questions that were not answered during our today's call, please feel free to contact our Invest Relations team at ir@mara.com. Thank you and enjoy the rest of your day.

好的，謝謝大家今天抽出時間。如果您有任何問題在我們今天的電話會議中未得到解答，請隨時透過 ir@mara.com 聯絡我們的投資關係團隊。謝謝您，祝您有個愉快的一天。

Thank you. This will 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。此時您可以斷開線路，感謝您的參與。