VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Jan. 05, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Marathon Patent Group Inc. (NASDAQ: MARA), (“Marathon”) and DMG Blockchain Solutions Inc. (TSX-V: DMGI) (DMGGF: OTC US) (FRANKFURT: 6AX) (“DMG”) have entered into a non-binding memorandum of understanding to form Digital Currency Miners of North America (“DCMNA”), which will be a U.S.-based non-profit entity whose mission is to create a better mining environment for North American miners, to help improve their financial performance, and to create North America’s first cooperative mining pool.
Marathon Patent Group and DMG’s U.S. subsidiary, Blockseer, are working together to establish DCMNA, a non-profit entity focused on North American digital currency opportunities, including decentralizing the Bitcoin hashrate and providing more transparency for North American miners. DCMNA’s principal initiative is to create North America’s first cooperative mining pool by licensing Blockseer’s mining pool to all DCMNA members in a cooperative structure. Mining partners who are members will receive rebates based on the hash rate they contribute to the overall pool, thus improving the mining profitability of DCMNA members.
As a founding member of DCMNA and one of North America’s largest enterprise Bitcoin mining companies, Marathon will put all of its mining hashrate (equivalent to 10.36 EH/s, or 7.6% of the total Bitcoin network’s hashrate, if all miners were deployed today at current levels) into the pool.
Benefits of the mining pool include, but are not limited to:
- Profit sharing, whereby miners receive rebates based on their contributed hashrate
- Increased transparency as all financial information will be audited by a third-party U.S.-based financial audit firm
- Lobbying efforts to improve the policies and regulatory environment in North America for miners
- “Clean block mining” that adheres to the Office of Foreign Asset Control’s (OFAC’s) compliance standards and reduces the risk of mining blocks that include transactions linked to nefarious activities
DCMNA is focused on increasing transparency, trust, and accountability in the emerging mining industry, particularly as more institutions embrace Bitcoin as a store of value. Unlike other Bitcoin mining pools, Blockseer’s pool will be audited by an independent auditing firm, ensuring that the miners receive accurate rewards and that auditors and regulators can trust the data provided. Using DMG’s proprietary patent pending technologies, the pool will also create transaction blocks that specifically omit any transactions deemed risky by Walletscore, and which may not meet OFAC standards. As a result, North American miners who are DCMNA members will reduce the risk of the blocks they mine containing transactions tied to criminal or terrorist-related activities.
DCMNA will also act as unified group to lobby government bodies and regulators on behalf of its membership. The organization will be governed by its mining members, while Marathon’s executive chairman, Merrick Okamoto, will serve as DCMNA’s inaugural chairman. A membership committee will also be formed to develop and regulate DCMNA’s operations and investments in North American digital currency mining issues, which will be identified by its membership.
“We are tremendously proud to lead the launch of DCMNA, a non-profit organization, whose first mandate is to bring its members a vast improvement in mining pool operations by licensing the Blockseer pool to serve our North American mining members,” said Marathon’s executive chairman, Merrick Okamoto. “To date, companies such as ours have relied on pools primarily based in Asia to connect to the Bitcoin network, and we have been frustrated by the lack of transparency and audited data. Marathon has been a leader both in terms of market capitalization and also in terms of lobbying regulators on behalf of our industry, and we look forward to working diligently to build the capabilities of DCMNA on behalf of our mining partners and DCMNA’s new members.”
Dan Reitzik, DMG’s CEO added, “It is an honor to work with Marathon to establish the DCMNA and to provide the technological components for the DCMNA organization. When DMG acquired Datient, the parent of Blockseer in 2018, our intention was to create solutions that would benefit our industry as a whole and increase trust in the Bitcoin ecosystem. Mining is a unique industry, in that miners do not necessarily compete with one another for customers or contracts, but instead work together to secure the blockchain on which Bitcoin transactions are processed. It simply makes sense to amalgamate North American miners toward common goals, and the Blockseer pool is the ideal way in which to lead this process in a safe, transparent, and compliant way.”
Terms of the memorandum of understanding include DMG licensing Blockseer’s technology and associated intellectual property to DCMNA, as well as the management of pool operations. Upon completion of a definitive agreement, detailed terms and conditions will be provided in an upcoming news release. Pool operations are expected to commence shortly after entering into a definitive agreement.
About Marathon Patent Group
Marathon is a digital asset technology company that mines cryptocurrencies, with a focus on the blockchain ecosystem and the generation of digital assets.
About DMG Blockchain Solutions Inc.
DMG is a vertically integrated blockchain and cryptocurrency company that manages, operates, and develops end-to-end digital solutions to monetize the blockchain ecosystem. DMG’s businesses are segmented into three main divisions: data centre operations, data analytics and forensics and developing enterprise blockchains. DMG’s data centre operations focus on earning revenues from block rewards and transaction fees by mining primarily bitcoin as well as providing hosting services for industrial mining clients. DMG’s data analytics and forensic services provide technical expertise software products such as Blockseer Pool, Mine Manager and Walletscore, as well as working with auditors, law firms, and law enforcement organizations. DMG’s permissioned blockchain technology is focused on developing enterprise software for the supply chain management of controlled products. DMG’s strategy is to become the domain experts across the business verticals it focuses on. DMG’s management team includes seasoned crypto experts, forensic & financial professionals and blockchain developers with deep relationships throughout the industry.
For more information on DMG Blockchain Solutions visit: www.dmgblockchain.com
On behalf of the Board of Directors,
Daniel Reitzik, CEO & Director
