MARA Holdings, the Nasdaq-listed bitcoin miner, sold 13,597 bitcoin at an average of about $81,039 after the end of September, for proceeds of roughly $1.1 billion, and says it will keep selling. The figures come from its third-quarter shareholder letter, filed with the SEC on Monday 9 November after the US close. MARA used $750 million of the cash to repay every bitcoin-backed loan it had taken out to buy the Long Ridge power plant in Ohio.
MARA’s bitcoin sale equals about 40% of the 34,012 BTC the company held on 30 September (our calculation: 13,597 divided by 34,012), and roughly six times the 2,247 BTC its machines mined in the whole third quarter (13,597 divided by 2,247 gives 6.05).
The letter does not give the dates of the sales, the venue or the buyers. It only says they happened after quarter-end, which leaves a window from 1 October to the filing on 9 November, about six weeks.
The quarter itself looks strong on paper: net income of $632.1 million against $123.1 million a year earlier. Almost all of it is a bitcoin mark-up. The letter books an $885.3 million unrealised gain on the fair value of its coins, while revenue fell 35% to $164.2 million.
The MARA bitcoin sale: $1.1 billion raised, $750 million of loans repaid
During the third quarter MARA borrowed $750.0 million against its bitcoin: $600.0 million of new money and $150.0 million that refinanced an older facility, all to fund the Long Ridge acquisition. On 30 September, 17,852 BTC sat pledged as collateral and 1,408 BTC were lent to counterparties. That is 19,260 BTC, or about 57% of the stack, that the company itself describes as “activated” through its digital asset management strategy.
After the quarter closed, the company sold the 13,597 BTC and repaid the term loans in full. The repayment returned 17,477 bitcoin that had been pledged. The letter says that less than 5% of MARA’s bitcoin is now loaned or pledged.
MARA presents the round trip as a trade that worked. It says it borrowed while bitcoin traded around $64,000 and sold near $81,039, and it puts the “estimated net benefit” at $170.0 million. That figure is the company’s own estimate; the letter does not show how it was calculated.
The arithmetic of the proceeds holds: 13,597 BTC at $81,039 comes to about $1.10 billion. After the $750 million repayment, roughly $350 million is left (our calculation, before any fees or taxes, which the letter does not give).
On 19 October, Coindaro reported that wallets labelled as MARA’s had sent 1,000 BTC to exchanges while a sale was not confirmed; the letter confirms sales after September but gives no dates, so it does not show whether those transfers were part of them.
How much bitcoin does MARA have now?
The letter does not say. It gives the 30 September count and the post-quarter sale, nothing more recent.
A rough figure is possible, but it is our estimate, not MARA’s: 34,012 BTC on 30 September minus 13,597 BTC sold leaves about 20,415 BTC. That subtraction ignores the bitcoin mined since 1 October (MARA mined 24.4 BTC a day on average in the third quarter), any other purchase, sale or transfer, and the coins lent out. The real number could be somewhat higher.
For scale, MARA said in a press release on 25 July 2024 that it held over 20,000 BTC when it announced a “full HODL approach” to its treasury. If our estimate is close, the company is back near that level, more than two years later.
According to The Block, MARA is now the fifth-largest corporate bitcoin treasury, having been passed by Strive in recent months. Strive’s own quarter was also mostly a mark-up, as we reported in our story on Strive’s $509 million Q3 profit.
From “full HODL” to selling the balance sheet in two years
MARA’s bitcoin policy has turned in stages. In July 2024 it committed to keep every coin it mined and to buy more. In 2025, the letter says, it changed its strategy to allow sales of bitcoin generated from operations. In 2026 it went further and allowed sales of bitcoin held on its balance sheet.
The 2026 numbers show what that means. In the first nine months of the year MARA sold about 26,984 BTC for $1.9 billion, an average near $70,400 per coin (our division of the rounded figures). Add the 13,597 sold after September and the total for 2026 passes 40,000 BTC: 40,581 by our sum, which matches CoinDesk’s reading.
Part of that went to debt. The letter shows 15,133 BTC sold to retire about $1.0 billion of convertible notes, and says the company bought back notes at a discount earlier in the year. Total debt fell by $1.4 billion, or 37%, between 1 January and 30 September. The letter gives the size of the cut, not the remaining balance, so we do not state one.
Selling is not over. The letter says: “We expect to continue to monetize bitcoin to enhance our financial flexibility”, subject to market conditions. In its words, MARA intends to keep “using bitcoin to build cash for purposes such as AI infrastructure opportunities”, to meet holder puts on convertible notes that become exercisable next year, and for possible share buybacks.
The board authorised a buyback of up to $500.0 million of common stock on 9 November, the day of the results. The letter reports no purchase under it yet, and the programme does not oblige MARA to buy any amount.
A $632 million profit built on an $885 million mark-up
Under US accounting rules MARA marks its bitcoin to market each quarter. Its bitcoin was valued at $83,556 a coin on 30 September, and the rise over the quarter produced an $885.3 million unrealised gain (two lines in the income statement: $421.9 million on bitcoin held and $463.5 million on bitcoin receivable).
Take that gain out and the picture changes. Income before taxes was $631.1 million; without the $885.3 million mark-up it would have been a loss of about $254 million (our arithmetic from the letter’s income statement). For the first nine months of 2026, MARA still shows a net loss of $1.24 billion.
Outlets did not agree on the headline number. The Block reported a profit of $634.4 million, which is the figure attributable to common stockholders once the share of losses booked by noncontrolling interests is added back; total net income in the letter is $632.1 million. We use the letter’s total.
The same pattern showed up at the biggest treasury company of all: Strategy’s record third quarter was also a bitcoin mark-up, and bitcoin now trades below the price it was marked at. It traded near $74,720 at 05:13 UTC on Tuesday 10 November, about 8% under MARA’s average sale price and about 11% under the 30 September mark.
The mining business in figures
Operations tell a quieter story. Revenue fell because the average bitcoin price of the coins MARA mined was 37% lower than a year earlier, the letter says, which cut $94.8 million from revenue, partly offset by slightly higher output. The coins it mined were valued at an average of $71,688 each; that is a price, not a cost. The cost figure the letter gives is purchased energy at its owned sites, $39,674 per bitcoin, which leaves out hosting, maintenance, depreciation and overheads.
| Metric (Q3 2026) | Figure | Change or comparison |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $164.2 million | -35% from $252.4 million (Q3 2025) |
| Net income | $632.1 million | $123.1 million in Q3 2025 |
| Unrealised bitcoin gain | $885.3 million | $343.1 million in Q3 2025 |
| Adjusted EBITDA | $857.7 million | $395.6 million in Q3 2025 |
| Bitcoin mined | 2,247 BTC | 2,144 BTC in Q3 2025 (+5%) |
| Blocks won | 644 | 700 in Q2 2026 |
| Share of network rewards | 5.4% | 5.9% in Q2 2026 |
| Energised hashrate | 71.2 EH/s | +18% from 60.4 EH/s |
| Purchased energy cost per BTC (owned sites) | $39,674 | $39,235 in Q3 2025 |
| Bitcoin sold in the quarter | 3,891 BTC | average $75,300 |
| Cash and equivalents | $946.5 million | $547.1 million on 31 Dec 2025 |
Source: MARA third-quarter 2026 shareholder letter. Hashrate grew, but MARA’s share of the rewards paid by the network fell quarter on quarter, a sign that difficulty rose faster than its fleet. For how difficulty works and why miners watch it, see our guide to bitcoin mining in 2026.
Why the miner wants cash: Long Ridge, Texas and AI leases
The cash is meant for power and data centres. The US energy regulator FERC approved the Long Ridge purchase on 4 November, according to the 10-Q. The plant is a natural gas station in Hannibal, Ohio, and MARA expects to close the purchase in the coming weeks. The plant is authorised to sell 485 MW and should reach its 505 MW nameplate capacity in the first half of 2027. MARA says about 70% of its output is under long-term contracts and that the site comes with over 1,600 acres. The letter does not give the price.
In Texas, the company secured rights to develop a site in Matagorda County with up to 2 GW of power, classified as a studied load by the grid operator ERCOT. On 23 October it replaced a $100.0 million cash deposit for the interconnection study with a letter of credit from Goldman Sachs Bank USA, the 10-Q shows. Payments to the sellers depend on power approval, and none has been made, the letter says.
MARA is targeting two data-centre leases before year-end but warns that timing “could slip into next year”. Its majority-owned subsidiary Exaion signed a four-year, $79 million GPU-as-a-service contract on take-or-pay terms. The company mentions a pipeline above $3 billion of contract value, which it says is not contracted or committed.
Fred Thiel, MARA’s chairman and chief executive, signs the opening section of the letter. He writes that this is “not a pivot away from bitcoin” and that “the opportunity is bigger than monetizing the megawatt”. His last line: “Our responsibility now is to execute with discipline and to show you the returns these assets can produce.”
Other miners are going further. IREN and Core Scientific have set year-end dates to leave blockchain and earns a reward, which makes rewriting history very expensive.">mining for AI hosting, as covered in our report on miners moving to AI. MARA keeps its machines running but now sells bitcoin, rather than shares, to pay for the move.
What it means for bitcoin holders and MARA shareholders
For the bitcoin market, the sale shows that the largest miners are no longer automatic holders. Within a window of about six weeks, MARA sold about six times what it mined in three months. The letter does not say whether the coins went through exchanges, over the counter or to a single buyer, so the effect on prices at the time cannot be measured from it.
For MARA shareholders, the trade-off is spelled out. Less bitcoin means less exposure to its price, up or down, and no collateral at risk of a margin call. It also means future quarters will carry smaller mark-to-market gains if bitcoin rises. The shares rose more than 4.5% in Monday’s regular session and were little changed after hours, The Block reported.
Neither reading is advice. The company itself lists bitcoin sales, borrowing and the put rights on its convertibles among the forward-looking statements that could turn out differently.
Open questions and the next dates
Several points remain open after the letter. MARA has not given its current bitcoin count, the dates and venues of the 13,597 BTC sold, the price of Long Ridge, or its remaining debt. The 10-Q for the quarter, also filed on 9 November, is the next place to look for detail on the bitcoin pledged and lent at 30 September.
Dates to watch: the Long Ridge closing, which MARA expects by year-end; the two leases it targets before 31 December; the bitcoin difficulty adjustment expected on 13 November; and the convertible-note puts that become exercisable in 2027, which the company has said it may meet partly with bitcoin.