MARA Is Lending 16% of Its Total Bitcoin Inventory
Bitcoin mining firm MARA revealed that it has lent out 7,377 BTC, worth over $730 million, in 2024 through short-term contracts.
In its December 2024 report, MARA Holdings (formerly Marathon Digital Holdings) provided the first disclosures about its Bitcoin lending operations.
As of December 31, MARA had lent out 7,377 BTC, or 16.4% of its total Bitcoin reserves, at single-digit yields. Robert Samuels, vice president of investor relations at MARA, said the program focuses on short-term agreements with reputable partners, although the identities of the borrowers were not disclosed.
He also noted that the Bitcoin lending program has been running throughout 2024, contributing significantly to additional revenue generation. This helps MARA offset mining operating costs while increasing profits for shareholders, in the context of the increasingly competitive Bitcoin mining sector.
At the time of writing, this amount of Bitcoin is worth about 730 million USD with BTC price fluctuating around 98,600 USD, recording a slight increase of 0.6% in the past 24 hours.
2024 also marks a strong shift in MARA's Bitcoin accumulation strategy. Not only stopping at mining 9,457 BTC, MARA also proactively bought 22,065 more BTC at an average price of 87,205 USD per coin, bringing the company's current total Bitcoin reserves to 44,893 BTC, worth more than 4.4 billion USD including the amount of Bitcoin lent.
With this figure, MARA continues to consolidate its second position in the list of public companies holding the most Bitcoin. The company has surpassed its third-place rival Riot Platform by more than 27,000 BTC and is only behind the "giant" MicroStrategy, which holds 446,400 BTC in reserves.
To achieve this feat, MARA has raised $1.9 billion over the past year through three convertible bond issuances in August, November and December 2024. These bonds have a 0% coupon rate, with maturities until 2030 and 2031, respectively. The majority of the raised capital has been used to buy more Bitcoin, reinforcing the company's strategy of accumulating digital assets. MARA CEO and Chairman Fred Thiel commented:
"Our hybrid mining and Bitcoin buying strategy gives us the flexibility to accumulate Bitcoin at attractive prices. This not only increases the value of our reserves but also optimizes long-term shareholder returns."
MARA also became the first publicly listed Bitcoin mining company to reach 50 Energized Hash Rate per second (EH/s) in December 2024. With an actual capacity of 53.2 EH/s, MARA is increasingly consolidating its leading position in the global Bitcoin mining industry. However, due to bad luck, the company's BTC production in December decreased by about 2% compared to the previous month.
