Bitcoin News Today: IREN Surpasses MARA in July Bitcoin Output Driving 11.4% Stock Gain

IREN Ltd’s stock surged 11.4% in trading on Wednesday following its impressive Bitcoin mining output in July, outperforming MARA Holdings [1]. IREN mined 728 BTC in July, compared to MARA’s 703 BTC, despite operating with a smaller deployed hashrate of 50 exahashes per second (EH/s) versus MARA’s 58.9 EH/s. This outperformance, driven by IREN’s 90% fleet utilization and an average hashrate of 45.4 EH/s, propelled its market capitalization to $4.11 billion, positioning it as the second-largest publicly traded Bitcoin mining firm behind MARA [1].

The company generated $86 million in revenue for the month, with $2.3 million coming from its expanding artificial intelligence cloud business. This diversification into AI services demonstrates IREN’s strategic shift beyond pure mining operations, a contrast to MARA, which has maintained a singular focus on Bitcoin mining [1]. IREN’s CEO, Daniel Roberts, highlighted the strong demand for its AI cloud services, including the deployment of 256 of 2,400 newly acquired Nvidia Blackwell GPUs in early July.

MARA, while trailing IREN in July’s mining output, reported a 64% year-over-year revenue increase in Q2 2025, reaching $238 million. However, its July performance marked a dip compared to its high of 950 BTC mined in June. The broader mining environment remains challenging as Bitcoin’s network hashrate exceeded 900 EH/s for the first time in July, intensifying competition across the sector [1].

IREN’s stock has rebounded significantly from its mid-2025 low of $5.59 to $18.32, a 227% increase over four months. This recovery contrasts with earlier skepticism from short-selling firm Culper Research, which had labeled IREN as overvalued. The recent share price surge reflects growing investor confidence in the company’s operational efficiency and strategic diversification [1].

At press time, IREN was trading at $18.32, up over 11% for the day, while MARA traded at $15.91, up nearly 2%. IREN’s ability to generate higher Bitcoin yields with a smaller hashrate and maintain strong hardware utilization positions it as a key player in a rapidly evolving mining landscape.

Source: [1] What Happened In Crypto Today (https://cointelegraph.com/news/what-happened-in-crypto-today)

[2] IREN Ltd Shares Jump 11% After Surpassing MARA in July (https://phemex.com/news/article/iren-ltd-shares-jump-11-after-surpassing-mara-in-july-bitcoin-mining_14515)