Author: Brayden Lindrea
Compiled by: DeepWave TechFlow
DeepChain Summary: Bitcoin mining company MARA Holdings delivered a disappointing first-quarter report: revenue fell 18% year-over-year, and net losses expanded from $530 million to $1.3 billion, causing its post-market stock price to erase all daily gains. The bulk of the losses stemmed from unrealized losses on its BTC holdings. More notably, MARA has explicitly stated it will no longer purchase new mining equipment and is fully shifting toward AI data centers—its former position as the largest mining company by market cap has now slipped to seventh place.
MARA Holdings' stock fell 3.44% after hours on Monday, closing at $12.93, erasing its entire 3.48% gain during the day. The reason is simple: its first-quarter earnings report missed expectations across the board.
Revenue and profit both missed expectations
According to MARA's earnings report, revenue for the quarter ended March 31 was $174.6 million, a 18% year-over-year decline, below the Wall Street expectation of $192.7 million.
Net loss of $1.3 billion, compared to a loss of $533.4 million in the same period last year, widening by nearly 1.5 times. Loss per share of $3.31, significantly exceeding analysts' estimate of $2.20.
Caption: MARA after-hours stock price movement, source: Google Finance
Where did the $1.3 billion loss come from?
The primary reason for the loss was the unrealized loss on MARA's holdings of 38,689 bitcoins. A 23% decline in bitcoin prices during the first quarter directly impacted the balance sheet.
MARA sold over 15,100 bitcoins during the last week of Marchfor approximately $1.1 billion to repurchase debt at a discount.
Mining conditions continue to deteriorate
MARA's predicament is not an isolated case. The entire U.S. Bitcoin mining sector is sliding from profitability to losses.
Two core pressures: Bitcoin has dropped more than 35% from its all-time high of $126,080, significantly reducing miners' revenue per block; at the same time, mining difficulty has risen nearly 30% over the past year, continuously increasing computational costs.
MARA's industry position is also declining. By market capitalization, it has fallen from the largest Bitcoin mining company to seventh place, as competitors are advancing more rapidly in their AI transitions.
Fully transition to AI data centers
MARA says Bitcoin mining remains the company's "operational foundation," but the actions are already clear.
The company’s AI strategy has two main pillars: first, partnering with Starwood Capital to convert existing mining facilities into AI and high-performance computing (HPC) data centers; second, acquiring Long Ridge Energy & Power on April 4 for $1.5 billion, a natural gas power plant with an integrated data center.
MARA's statement is:
Our strategy is to locate the new infrastructure alongside existing Bitcoin mining facilities. The flexibility this provides is the ability to generate revenue through mining today while retaining the option to redirect power toward AI and critical IT workloads.
The acquisition of Long Ridge can ultimately support 600 MW of AI computing power, allowing approximately 90% of MARA’s non-hosted mining capacity to be reallocated for AI and IT computing.
In one sentence summarizing the determination to transform: the company clearly stated that it has no plans to purchase new mining machines.