MARA's bitcoin holdings approach $4 billion following miner's latest acquisitions

Bitcoin miner MARA announced on Tuesday that, using the proceeds from its zero-coupon convertible note offerings, it has now acquired 11,774 BTC for around $1.1 billion — bringing its total balance sheet holdings to 40,435 BTC, worth approximately $3.9 billion.

“Using the proceeds from its zero-coupon convertible notes offerings, MARA has acquired 11,774 BTC for ~$1.1 billion at ~$96,000 per bitcoin,” the mining firm posted to X on Tuesday. “As of 12/9/2024, we hold 40,435 BTC, currently valued at $3.9 billion based on a spot BTC price of $96,500.”

MARA recently completed a $850 million zero-coupon convertible senior note offering due 2031, upsized from $700 million , to repurchase existing notes and acquire more bitcoin. In November, the firm announced it had already acquired a total of 6,474 BTC following the closing of another $1 billion convertible note offering, with around $160 million remaining for future “bitcoin dip purchases.”

Representing nearly 0.2% of bitcoin’s total 21 million supply, MARA’s holdings are the largest of any public miner, according to data from Bitcoin Treasuries. However, this is only around 10% of the holdings of bitcoin corporate treasury pioneer MicroStrategy, which announced its latest $2.1 billion acquisition on Monday, taking its total holdings to 423,650 BTC — worth over $40 billion.

MARA also adopts MicroStrategy’s “Bitcoin Yield” key performance indicator to measure the percentage change in its bitcoin holdings relative to its diluted shares. As of Dec. 9, the firm’s year-to-date Bitcoin Yield is 47.6%, according to an 8-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, reflecting significant growth in holdings while balancing share dilution amid the company’s strategy of acquiring bitcoin efficiently to benefit shareholders.

The latest acquisitions come amid disappointing third-quarter earnings for the company, which fell short of analysts' expectations. It reported a net loss of $124.8 million for Q3, compared to a net loss of $390,000 during the same period last year.

MARA's full 'HODL' strategy

While the majority of the bitcoin reflected on MARA’s balance sheet has been generated from its mining operations, the firm announced in July it would adopt a full “HODL” approach to its bitcoin treasury policy, retaining all the bitcoin mined in its operations with further strategic acquisitions made periodically.

"Adopting a full HODL strategy reflects our confidence in the long-term value of bitcoin," MARA chairman and CEO Fred Thiel said at the time. "We believe bitcoin is the world’s best treasury reserve asset and support the idea of sovereign wealth funds holding it. We encourage governments and corporations to all hold bitcoin as a reserve asset.”