MARA Holdings sold 13,597 bitcoin for about $1.1 billion after the third quarter ended and used $750 million of the proceeds to pay off all of its bitcoin-backed term loans, the company said Monday in its Q3 shareholder letter.
The coins were sold at roughly $81,039 each. MARA held 34,012 BTC as of Sept. 30, meaning the sale reduced its holdings by about 40% in a matter of weeks.
Repaying the loans returned 17,477 bitcoin that had been pledged as collateral, leaving less than 5% of MARA’s holdings loaned or pledged, according to the company. Subtracting the sale from the quarter-end figure implies about 20,400 BTC remaining, before counting coins mined since.
More sales planned
The shareholder letter made clear that the selling is not over. “We intend to continue using bitcoin to build cash for purposes such as AI infrastructure opportunities, to satisfy the puts on our convertible notes that become exercisable next year, and potential share repurchases,” MARA wrote.
The board also authorized a buyback of up to $500 million of common stock after quarter-end.
Treasury becomes a funding source
MARA spent years building one of the largest bitcoin stacks among public companies. The shift away from holding came in stages. The company said it began permitting sales of mined bitcoin in 2025 and in 2026 expanded the policy to cover bitcoin already on its balance sheet.
It sold about 26,984 bitcoin for $1.9 billion in the first nine months of the year, including 3,891 BTC in the third quarter at an average of $75,300. It mined 2,247 BTC in the quarter and bought none.
Year to date, MARA has cut total debt by $1.4 billion, or 37%. It ended September with $946.5 million in cash and about $3.8 billion in cash and bitcoin combined, plus 1,408 BTC lent out that earned about $2.5 million in interest during the quarter.
MARA’s post-quarter sale fetched about $6,800 more per coin than bitcoin’s price near $74,200 on Tuesday morning.
Revenue falls as AI pivot speeds up
The quarter’s headline profit came from the coins, not the mines. Revenue fell 35% to $164.2 million from $252.4 million a year earlier, even as energized hashrate rose 18% to 71.2 EH/s.
Net income rose to $632.1 million, or $1.28 a diluted share, from $123.1 million, helped by an $885.3 million gain on the fair value of digital assets.
Mining itself got slightly more expensive. Purchased energy cost per bitcoin at MARA’s owned sites was $39,674, up from $39,235 a year earlier, while blocks won rose 2% to 644.
“Bitcoin built the foundation. Power created the opportunity,” the letter opens, describing a strategy to “maximize the value of every megawatt” MARA controls.
MARA said it is targeting two data center leases before year-end but warned that “market conditions are fluid and that timing could slip into next year.” It received FERC approval for its Long Ridge natural gas plant purchase, currently authorized to sell 485 MW, and expects to close in the coming weeks. It also secured rights to develop a Matagorda County, Texas site with up to 2 GW of power capacity, and its Exaion unit signed a four-year, $79 million GPU-as-a-service contract with its first U.S. customer.
The move puts MARA in step with peers pulling away from bitcoin. Riot and Hut 8 sold thousands of bitcoin to fund AI projects and buybacks, Keel sold its entire treasury, and Core Scientific plans to exit mining by year-end.
MARA still describes bitcoin mining as its operating foundation, one that keeps sites earning revenue while higher-value infrastructure is built out. With roughly 13,600 fewer coins on the books and a stated plan to keep selling, the miner that once carried one of the largest corporate stacks is now using that stack to pay for its next business.
