HIVE Blockchain Technologies (HIVE), a publicly-listed crypto mining firm, has released its Bitcoin (BTC) production figures for February 2023, reporting a 4% drop in the number of the foremost digital currency mined. The firm produced 250 BTC last month compared to 260 BTC mined in January. However, the February production is 17% higher than the 214 BTC produced in December 2022.

The decrease in HIVE’s BTC production comes as mining difficulty continues to bite harder, jumping from a 39.4 trillion record at the beginning of February 2023 to an all-time high of 43.1 trillion on February 28th. In other words, miming difficulty increased by 9% during the month.

In addition, HIVE produced a BTC HODL balance of 2,340 BTC last month, which is a 4% decrease from 2,430 BTC balance it held in January. However, HIVE said it now has approximately 2,365 BTC with a market value of over $56 million as of Thursday (March 2nd). The firm, which went public in 2017, also noted that it sold a total of 267.7 BTC in February, generating total net proceeds of $6.6 million.

HIVE’s Hashrate Increases in February

Despite the increased mining difficulty in the Bitcoin network in February, HIVE said it managed to increase its overall hashrate by 16% month-over-month. Hashrate is a measurement of the speed at which a cryptocurrency mining device operates.

The crypto miner produced BTC at a monthly average of 2.75 exahash per second (EH/s) in February 2023 compared to January’s 2.38 EH/s average hashrate. The February hashrate translates to 91 BTC per Exahash, HIVE said.

“We are continuously looking to optimize our allocation of energy as a resource. This month we did not sell energy back to the grid, but rather increased our operating hashrate as this was the most profitable operating mode,” Aydin Kilic, HIVE’s President and Chief Executive Officer, noted in a statement.

HIVE Produces More BTC in 2022, Losses $90M during Q4

Meanwhile, HIVE produced 4,752 BTC in 2022, which is an 18% year-on-year increase. The company described the output as a “modest” jump in production despite growing mining difficulty and declining profitability amidst a prolonged cryptocurrency winter last year.

However, during the last quarter of 2022, HIVE reported a $90 million loss, which is a 143% increase from the $37 million loss posted during the prior quarter. Furthermore, the crypto miner’s revenue slumped by 51.6% year-over-year to $14.1 million at the end of last year. HIVE blamed the shrink in revenue on The Ethereum Merge, prolonged cryptocurrency winter, rising mining difficulty and tumbling crypto prices.