Cryptocurrency mining company CleanSpark reported a surge in revenue and profitability during the December quarter thanks to lower production costs and surging Bitcoin (BTC) prices.
In its first fiscal quarter of 2025, which ended Dec. 31, CleanSpark reported $162.3 million in revenue, a gain of 120% year over year. The company’s profits improved to $241.7 million, or $0.85 per share, from just $25.9 million one year earlier.
CleanSpark CEO Zach Bradford said the company’s success was due to “continuous improvement across […] the most important industry metrics: operating hashrate, fleet efficiency, marginal cost to mine, Bitcoin treasury and portfolio uptime.”
The marginal cost to mine a single Bitcoin fell by 6% to $34,000 per coin. At the same time, Bitcoin’s average price exceeded $83,000 during the quarter and eventually broke $100,000 for the first time.
CleanSpark added more than 1,000 BTC to its corporate treasury, ending the quarter with 10,556 BTC on its balance sheet.
For miners, a rising Bitcoin price was the tide that lifted all ships in the fourth quarter of 2024. According to investment bank H.C. Wainwright & Co, miner revenues jumped 41% to $3.7 billion between October and December.
Related: Monthly Bitcoin production drops as miners fight rising hashrate
Miners are holding more Bitcoin than ever before
The Bitcoin mining business has become one of the largest segments of the crypto industry, with public miners reaching a combined market cap of $50 billion in 2024.
According to industry data, the 24 largest mining firms have a cumulative market capitalization of $48.1 billion as of Feb. 7.
Amid the bull market, more miners have taken a page out of the Strategy — formerly MicroStrategy — playbook by holding more mined Bitcoin on their balance sheet.
“In 2024, a notable shift emerged among Bitcoin miners, with many opting to retain a larger portion of their mined Bitcoin or refraining from selling altogether,” wrote analysts Nico Smid and Cindy Geng in a Jan. 7 report by Digital Mining Solutions and BitcoinMiningStock.io.
The growth of the Bitcoin mining business has prompted asset manager Grayscale to launch a new exchange-traded fund (ETF) offering exposure to mining firms.
On Jan. 30, the asset manager debuted its Grayscale Bitcoin Miners ETF (MNRS), which tracks the performance of companies whose revenues are mainly derived from BTC mining or related hardware.
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