Investment bank Jefferies downgraded its rating for bitcoin (BTC) miner Marathon Digital Holdings (MARA) to “hold” from “buy” due to construction delays. “Worsened mining economics and a lack of transparency around MARA’s hosting partners’ execution risks keep us on the sidelines for the time being,” Jonathan Petersen and Amanda Santillo wrote in a note to investors published on Sunday. The bank also reduced its price target from $12.5 to $4. Jefferies anticipates that all of Marathon’s ordered machines, totaling 23 exahash/second (EH/s) of computing power, will be operational by the end of 2023, rather than the company’s projected mid-year. Marathon Digital shares were up more than 3% at $4.23 in pre-market trading, tracking the broader crypto market.
