MARA’s $5.4B Bitcoin treasury grows to 50k BTC as miners adopt a HODL strategy

MARA (formerly Marathon Digital) reports its Bitcoin holdings have increased to 49,940 BTC, bringing the digital asset miner to the edge of a major corporate milestone and reinforcing a broader market trend of miners retaining their produced assets.MARA’s holdings position it as the second-largest public corporate holder of Bitcoin, with a treasury valued at over $5.4 billion based on recent market prices. This places the company behind only Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) in terms of publicly disclosed corporate Bitcoin reserves and demonstrates a defined accumulation strategy.Bitcoin treasuries (Source: Bitcointreasuries.net)The move is emblematic of a wider behavioral change across the mining sector. Bitcoin miners, once seen as a source of constant sell pressure, are now behaving as strategic long-term holders.Data shows this shift is impacting market supply, with exchange balances reaching multi-year lows. The reduction in Bitcoin available for immediate trade is often associated with long-term holding strategies. This trend of miners retaining assets could constrict available supply as demand from instruments like spot ETFs continues.Bitcoin exchange balance (Source: CryptoQuant)In a recent announcement, MARA’s Chairman and CEO, Fred Thiel, commented on the company’s operational focus.“We remain laser-focused on transforming MARA into a vertically integrated digital energy and infrastructure company,” Thiel stated, per Nasdaq.He elaborated that this model is intended to provide tighter operational control and improve cost-efficiency. In a June 3 update, Thiel noted record-breaking production in May, where the company produced 950 BTC, the most since the April 2024 halving event.New economic pressures, including direct competition for energy from the artificial intelligence sector, are testing this strategy. In an interview with Bloomberg Television, Thiel acknowledged this challenge: “The AI guys can afford to pay a much higher amount for energy… Bitcoin miners are being forced.”This competition for power resources could reshape mining economics, potentially favoring large-scale, vertically integrated operators with secure and low-cost energy contracts.The financial implications of MARA’s Bitcoin-heavy balance sheet will be a central point of interest for investors during its upcoming second-quarter earnings report, which Nasdaq data estimates will be released in August.Analysts currently have a consensus earnings per share forecast of $-0.41 for the quarter ending in June.Mentioned in this article



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