Bitcoin Miners Raise $5.2 Billion Through Convertible Notes Since June
MicroStrategy has acquired additional bitcoin, and an analyst team has increased its stock price target for Coinbase. This report begins with developments in bitcoin mining firms that are raising capital through convertible note issuances.
Recent Convertible Notes Offerings
Bitdeer announced a $360 million convertible senior notes offering last month. Recently, Marathon Digital, Core Scientific, and Iris Energy initiated offerings totaling $850 million, $550 million, and $400 million, respectively.
Since June, seven publicly traded BTC miners and data center companies have raised a total of $5.2 billion through convertible notes, with approximately 70% raised in the last four weeks, according to data from TheMinerMag. Riot Platforms recently proposed a $500 million convertible notes offering, which is not included in that figure.
Market Sentiment and Strategic Moves
This trend indicates mining firms are taking advantage of growing bullish sentiment regarding bitcoin among institutional investors, as noted by BlocksBridge Consulting founder Nishant Sharma. He anticipates this trend will continue due to the early stages of a new crypto bull run. Bitcoin's price was about $98,000 at 2 pm ET Monday, down 3% from the previous day.
Bitdeer plans to use proceeds from its offering for data center expansion and ASIC-based mining rig development. The company's stock surged 86% over the past month, with a notable increase of more than 27% during last Friday’s trading session after upgrading its SEALMINER A2 mining rig hashrate projection for 2025 from 18 EH/s to 35 EH/s. Analyst Mark Palmer raised Bitdeer's stock price target from $16 to $29, citing its multifaceted business model.
Capital Utilization by Mining Firms
Marathon and Riot mentioned intentions to utilize raised capital to acquire more BTC. Over the past month, MARA and RIOT share prices decreased by 3% and 23%, respectively. Sharma noted that Marathon could follow the example set by MicroStrategy, indicating both Marathon and competitor CleanSpark are well-positioned for decisive actions regarding mining and holding strategies.
Marathon holds 34,959 BTC, while CleanSpark has 9,297 bitcoins. Hut 8 Mining possesses 9,122 BTC and plans to allocate some proceeds from its recent at-the-market and stock repurchase programs to purchase additional bitcoin as a strategic reserve asset.
MicroStrategy's Recent Acquisition
MicroStrategy purchased another 21,550 bitcoins for approximately $2.1 billion in cash between December 2 and 8, increasing its total holdings to 423,650 BTC. MSTR stock was down more than 4% at 2 pm ET, slightly exceeding the decline in bitcoin's price.
Coinbase Stock Target Increase
Coinbase’s share price fell 7% on Monday to around $318. Despite this, Needham analysts John Todaro and Brian Vieten raised their COIN price target from $375 to $420, noting expectations for the exchange to achieve its highest trading volumes since May 2021 in December.