In a filing on Wednesday, Bitcoin miner Marathon revealed it received yet another subpoena from the US Securities and Exchange Commission for a potential securities law violation. The Subpeona relates to the SEC’s ongoing investigation of a Montana data center.
Marathon stated in the filing that it is aware of the investigation related to its data center facility in Hardin, Montana, and is cooperating with the SEC on the issue.
“The company received an additional subpoena from the SEC on April 10, 2023, relating to, among other things, transactions with related parties. We understand that the SEC may be investigating whether or not there may have been any violations of the federal securities law,” Montana stated in the filing.
Yet Another Subpoena
The bitcoin miner faced a subpoena related to its Montana data facility in September 2021, where the SEC required it to provide documents and communications regarding the center.
Marathon is one of the most prominent publicly-traded crypto mining exchanges in computing power worldwide. The Las Vegas-based firm has data centers all over the U.S., with one of its newest installations in Texas.
SEC Discovered Accounting Issues
In February, Marathon disclosed that it had discovered some accounting errors in a good number of its quarterly financial reports after the SEC raised some concerns. The bitcoin miners found some misrepresentations in four accounting areas: consolidation, impairment of digital assets, disposal of property and equipment, and principal versus agent considerations in revenue recognition.
Marathon also revealed a $7.2 million loss in its first quarterly update for the year, an improvement from its $12.9 million loss from the previous report. It also reported a $51.1 million revenue in the update after a good bitcoin rebound in the year’s first quarter.
Shares of Marathon are closely correlated with Bitcoin, as most of the miner’s assets are stored in the cryptocurrency’s form. The company’s shares made good gains in the first quarter, as Bitcoin is already up 64% this year.
