MARA Sells 13,597 Bitcoin for $1.1 Billion and Plans to Keep Selling
The miner used $750 million to clear its bitcoin-backed loans. Less than 5% of its remaining coins are now lent out or pledged, down from about 57% in September.
MARA Holdings sold 13,597 bitcoin for about $1.1 billion after Sept. 30, at an average near $81,039 a coin, its third-quarter shareholder letter filed Monday shows. It expects to sell more.
That is about 40% of the 34,012 bitcoin the miner held at the end of September. It is also roughly six times the 2,247 coins its machines mined in the whole quarter, per the company's earnings call.
Most of the cash went to lenders
MARA used $750 million to fully repay its bitcoin-backed term loans, which returned 17,477 coins it had pledged as collateral. Less than 5% of its remaining bitcoin is now lent out or pledged, CoinDesk reported from the letter, down from about 57% at quarter-end.
How that loan worked: in August MARA borrowed against its coins while bitcoin traded around $64,000, to help pay for Long Ridge, a natural-gas power plant it is buying. Selling near $81,000 to repay it left what the company calls an estimated net benefit of $170 million. The letter doesn't give the dates or venues of the sales.
A miner that used to hold every coin
MARA began allowing sales of newly mined bitcoin in 2025 and this year widened that to coins on its balance sheet. It sold about 26,984 bitcoin for $1.9 billion in the first nine months of 2026. "We expect to continue to monetize bitcoin," the letter says, naming liquidity and capital projects. The company has also authorized buybacks of up to $500 million, BeInCrypto and the call transcript show.
Mining itself earned less. Third-quarter revenue fell 35% to $164.2 million. Net income of $632.1 million rested on an $885.3 million unrealized gain on its bitcoin.
Bitcoin was near $74,160 at 5:59 a.m. ET Tuesday, up 0.1% in 24 hours, per CoinGecko.
In our opinion: coins sold at an average $81,039 would fetch about $74,160 today, so the timing helped MARA's books. The bigger shift is the job description. A company that once kept every coin it mined is now using them like a credit line for power plants and data centers, and the next number to check is what's left on the balance sheet in the fourth-quarter letter.
Sources: MARA Q3 2026 shareholder letter (SEC) · MARA press release, Q3 2026 results · The Motley Fool, MARA Q3 2026 earnings call transcript · CoinDesk · BeInCrypto · CoinGecko, bitcoin price
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