MARA liquidates 15,133 BTC for about $1.1B to retire roughly $1B of convertible debt

MARA Holdings, the largest publicly traded Bitcoin miner in the U.S., said Thursday it sold 15,133 BTC for approximately $1.1 billion between March 4 and March 25, using the proceeds to retire about $1 billion of convertible debt. The move ranks among the biggest single Bitcoin liquidations by a public miner and underscores a sharp departure from MARA's accumulation-first approach through much of 2024 and 2025, when it raised billions via zero-coupon convertible notes specifically to buy more Bitcoin. Convertible debt cut by about 30% In privately negotiated deals with noteholders, MARA repurchased about $367.5 million of its 0.00% convertible senior notes due 2030 and $633.4 million of its 2031 notes, the company said in a press release. It paid roughly $322.9 million and $589.9 million, respectively—an average discount of about 9% to par—generating about $88 million in cash savings. The repurchases reduce MARA's total convertible note obligations to roughly $2.3 billion from about $3.3 billion, according to the company. The Bitcoin sale follows a policy change disclosed in MARA's SEC Form 10-K earlier this month that formally authorizes selling BTC held on the balance sheet, not only newly mined coins. In the second half of 2025, MARA had already started selling part of production to offset rising operating costs amid post-halving margin compression. "Our decision to sell a portion of our Bitcoin holdings reflects a strategic capital allocation move designed to strengthen our balance sheet and position the company for long-term growth," Chairman and CEO Fred Thiel said. Until recently, MARA had been among the most aggressive corporate Bitcoin accumulators alongside Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy), using convertible debt issuance to build holdings to more than 50,000 BTC. After the sale, MARA holds 38,689 BTC, valued at about $2.7 billion at current prices, according to BitcoinTreasuries data. That reduction drops MARA to third among corporate Bitcoin holders, behind Twenty One Capital with 43,514 BTC. Strategy remains the clear leader with more than 762,000 BTC and continues to buy. Strategic pivot toward AI and data centers Thiel positioned the deleveraging as a prerequisite for MARA's broader push into digital energy and AI/high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure. In February, MARA announced a joint venture with Starwood Capital targeting 2.5 GW of AI and HPC data center capacity. Last year, the company also agreed to acquire a 64% stake in Exaion, an HPC subsidiary of French energy company EDF. MARA said it expects to continue selling Bitcoin "from time to time" as part of its 2026 capital and liquidity strategy. This article was written with the assistance of AI workflows. All stories are curated, edited and fact-checked by a human.