Marathon Digital Holdings sold about $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin this quarter, slashing its holdings and using the proceeds to cut debt by 30% while pivoting toward AI infrastructure. The sale of roughly 20,880 BTC at an average price near $70,137 per coin allowed the miner to repurchase convertible notes at a discount, generating a $71 million accounting gain. Total debt fell from $3.3 billion to $2.3 billion.
The numbers behind the sale
Marathon executed the sale in tranches, with 15,133 BTC — worth $1.1 billion at prevailing prices — sold between March 4 and March 25. The company’s Bitcoin holdings dropped from 38,689 BTC to approximately 35,303 BTC, ranking fourth among public Bitcoin holders. The miner said it won’t buy any more mining hardware, a sharp break from its previous strategy.
Why the pivot to AI
Instead of more rigs, Marathon is pouring roughly $1.5 billion into AI infrastructure. The centerpiece: an acquisition of Long Ridge Energy’s 505-megawatt natural gas plant, which the company expects to yield $144 million in annual EBITDA. The move signals that Marathon sees better returns in hosting high-performance computing for AI workloads than in pure Bitcoin mining — a bet that the energy and data center play will outpace the volatile coin price.
A tough quarter for the miner
First-quarter results made the pivot more urgent. Revenue dropped 18% year over year to $174.6 million, and Marathon posted a net loss of $1.26 billion. On the operational side, the company produced 2,247 BTC in Q1 and boosted its energized hashrate 33% year over year to 72.2 EH/s — more computing power, but not enough to offset the revenue slide.
What’s next
Marathon stock was up 0.24% at the time of reporting, while Bitcoin itself slipped 1.39%. The company is now focused on closing the Long Ridge acquisition and deploying AI infrastructure. The big unresolved question: can the AI pivot generate enough cash flow to offset the mining revenue decline and the $1.26 billion quarterly loss?
