Publicly traded bitcoin mining giant MARA Holdings (MARA) has significantly grown its corporate treasury. Latest data shows that the company sold a total of 3,386 bitcoins in the first quarter of 2026.
Despite large-scale liquidations, the company still holds 35,303 bitcoins, allowing it to easily remain in fourth place on the list of the world’s top 100 public bitcoin holders.
Shift to artificial intelligence (AI)
This mining giant is moving away from pure cryptocurrency mining and investing instead in high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence data centers.
The company will use the proceeds from the sale for major acquisitions, such as acquiring the computing campus of Long Ridge Energy & Power, enabling it to leverage its substantial energy resources to find new applications for profitable AI workloads.
The company is also using its Bitcoin reserves to repair its balance sheet. Proceeds from the sale of Bitcoin have helped improve its liquidity and funded the repurchase of convertible preferred notes.
First-quarter financial pressure
This sell-off comes as the company faces severe financial challenges. In the first quarter of 2026, MARA reported a net loss of $1.3 billion.
This significant gap was primarily due to Bitcoin's price falling by approximately 20% between January and March, causing a sharp decline in cryptocurrency values and resulting in a $1 billion impairment charge.
In light of these adverse factors, it is necessary to sell a portion of treasury assets to replenish cash reserves.
Pause expansion of mining drilling platforms
Historically, miners sold Bitcoin to purchase more advanced ASIC miners. However, the release of MARA marks the definitive end of this cycle.
The management recently confirmed that the company has no plans to purchase dedicated Bitcoin mining equipment in the near future.
They focus on deploying new infrastructure at existing locations to immediately reallocate power between Bitcoin mining and AI tasks based on which is more profitable at the time.