Shares of Bitcoin miner IREN Ltd surged 11.4% on Wednesday after the company posted $86 million in revenue for July, surpassing industry giant MARA Holdings in monthly Bitcoin production. The Australian-based firm reported mining 728 BTC, outpacing MARA’s 703 BTC, despite operating with a smaller deployed hashrate—50 EH/s compared to MARA’s 58.9 EH/s. IREN maintained an average hashrate of 45.4 EH/s in July, indicating strong operational uptime across its fleet. This outperformance comes at a time when Bitcoin mining has become more challenging due to increased network difficulty, which typically raises power demands and reduces profit margins for less efficient miners. While MARA’s July performance dipped slightly from June, the firm recently reported robust Q2 earnings with a 64% year-on-year revenue increase to $238 million, and maintains the second-largest Bitcoin treasury among public firms at 50,000 BTC —second only to MicroStrategy. IREN Rockets Past Competitors in Market Value Following the earnings announcement, IREN shares closed at $18.32, lifting its market cap to $4.11 billion. This puts IREN just behind MARA in terms of public miner valuations and ahead of rivals like Riot Platforms and Core Scientific . Notably, the company’s revenue stream is no longer entirely dependent on Bitcoin. Of the $86 million in July, $2.3 million came from its growing AI cloud division. This pivot reflects IREN’s strategy to diversify its business by leveraging its infrastructure for high-performance computing. Co-founder and co-CEO Daniel Roberts said the firm is witnessing “accelerating interest” in its Nvidia Blackwell GPUs, designed for AI workloads. The company acquired 2,400 units in early July and has already received the first shipment of 256 GPUs. Roberts emphasized that operating Bitcoin mining rigs alongside AI hardware highlights IREN’s “adaptability and long-term market strategy.” From Overvalued to Overperforming IREN’s strong July follows a sharp turnaround in investor sentiment. About a year ago, short-seller Culper Research criticized the company as “wildly overvalued” and unprepared to compete in the AI space. The firm likened IREN’s ambitions to entering the Monaco Grand Prix with a Toyota Prius. At the time, the company’s stock dropped from $12.31 to $5.59, but in the past four months, it has staged a dramatic recovery—rallying 227% to reclaim investor confidence and establish itself as a serious player in both Bitcoin and AI sectors. The post IREN Shares Jump 11% After Beating MARA in Bitcoin Output, Expands AI Focus appeared first on TheCoinrise.com .