Marathon Digital Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:MARA) shares traded higher Wednesday morning before pulling back. The company released Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) production and mining operation updates.

What Happened: Marathon Digital said it produced 1,242 bitcoin in September, up 16% from August and up 245% on a year-over-year basis. The increase was driven by improved uptime and decreased curtailment activity at its Texas facility.

The company's U.S. average operational hash rate increased 20% month-over-month to 15.8 exahashes. Marathon Digital captured a higher percentage of total miner rewards available on the bitcoin network last month, 4.3%, than it ever has. It's previous record was 4.1% in July.

"Outside the US, our joint venture in Abu Dhabi mined 50 bitcoin in September of which approximately 10 bitcoin is our share. Construction is nearly complete at our second, larger site, and we continue to expect the project's full 7.0 exahashes to be online before year-end 2023," said Fred Thiel, chairman and CEO of Marathon Digital.

Marathon said it's evaluating multiple opportunities including expanding to international locations with low-cost renewable energy. The company plans to announce specifics on its expansion plans in the coming weeks. 

Marathon opted to sell 800 bitcoin last month to help support operations. As of Sept. 30, the company held a total of 13,726 unrestricted bitcoin. 

See Also: Bitcoin Edges Higher Following ADP Jobs Data; XRP Emerges As Top Gainer

MARA Price Action: Marathon Digital shares were down 1.03% at $7.23 at the time of publication, according to Benzinga Pro.

Photo: Miloslav Hamří from Pixabay.