MARA sells bitcoin from its balance sheet to clear its loans as mining revenue shrinks

MARA Holdings (Nasdaq: MARA), one of the largest listed bitcoin miners, sold 13,597 bitcoin (BTC) for about $1.1 billion after the end of September and used $750 million of it to repay its bitcoin-backed loans, the company said in its third-quarter shareholder letter, filed with the SEC on Monday, November 9.

The sale equals 40% of the 34,012 bitcoin MARA held on September 30. It comes as the company's mining revenue shrinks and it redirects capital toward power plants and computing sites for artificial intelligence.

From mining what it sells to selling what it holds

MARA said it changed its approach in two steps. "In 2025, we changed our strategy to permit sales of bitcoin generated from operations and in 2026 we expanded this strategy to allow for sales of bitcoin held on our balance sheet," the company said in the letter.

The post-quarter sale was made at an average of about $81,039 per coin, according to the letter. In the first nine months of 2026, MARA had already sold about 26,984 bitcoin for $1.9 billion in proceeds, it said in its quarterly report. In the third quarter alone it mined 2,247 bitcoin and sold 3,891, more than it produced.

The company said it intends to keep selling. "We expect to continue to monetize bitcoin to enhance our financial flexibility," it said, adding that this was "subject to market conditions and our capital allocation priorities."

The loans the sale cleared

During the third quarter MARA borrowed $750 million against its bitcoin, of which $600 million was new money and $150 million refinanced an existing facility, to fund its purchase of the Long Ridge power plant, according to the letter. Repaying them released all the pledged bitcoin, of which 17,477 had secured those loans on September 30, according to the quarterly report.

MARA said it borrowed while bitcoin traded around $64,000 and estimated a "net benefit of $170.0 million" from borrowing low and selling higher. It also said it has reduced debt by $1.4 billion since the start of 2026, or 37% of the total. After the quarter, its board authorized a share repurchase program of up to $500 million.

The company named the uses it has in mind for future sales: "AI infrastructure opportunities, to satisfy the puts on our convertible notes that become exercisable next year, and potential share repurchases."

A profit built on the coin's price, not on mining

MARA reported third-quarter net income of $632.1 million, against $123.1 million a year earlier. The company said the increase was "primarily driven by an $885.3 million unrealized bitcoin mark-to-market gain." That gain is $253.2 million larger than the quarter's net income.

Revenue fell 35% to $164.2 million from $252.4 million a year earlier, as a 37% decline in the average price of bitcoin mined outweighed higher output, the company said. Its energized hashrate, the computing power it can direct at the Bitcoin network, rose 18% to 71.2 exahashes per second.

The price has moved since the sale. Bitcoin traded at $73,674 at 12:12 a.m. ET on Wednesday (5:12 a.m. UTC), according to Coinbase's spot price, 9.1% below MARA's average selling price. MARA valued its holdings at about $2.8 billion on September 30, at a price of $83,556 per coin.

Other miners have made similar moves. Riot Platforms and Hut 8 described selling bitcoin while building contracted data center capacity, as FinanceInTime reported on November 6.

A smaller treasury lowers the risk the profit line carries

We think the sale makes MARA a less leveraged company and an easier one to read. Repaying the bitcoin-backed loans removes the risk of forced selling in a falling market, and the quarter shows why that matters: mining revenue fell 35% while reported profit rose on a gain that has not been realized in cash.

The threat is on the other side of the trade. A company that keeps selling its holdings to fund power plants and computing sites is trading a liquid asset for projects whose returns it has yet to show, and the convertible-note puts due next year will compete for the same coins. The opportunity is that contracted power income would be less tied to the coin's price than mining. We do not forecast the price of bitcoin. We would weigh MARA's next reports by signed contracts and cash from power, and our view would change if the company returned to borrowing against its bitcoin.

The view in this final section is FinanceInTime's editorial opinion, for information only. It is not investment, tax, legal or other advice, and it does not take your circumstances into account. Forecasts are uncertain and past results do not guarantee future ones.