Bitcoin miner MARA has taken an unexpected turn in its strategy, lending out 7,377 BTC—roughly 16% of its total reserves. At today’s prices, that’s about $726 million worth of Bitcoin. The company says this is part of a calculated plan to generate yield and cover rising operating expenses.
MARA’s Director of Investor Relations, Robert Samuels, shared that these loans are “short-term arrangements with well-established third parties,” but he didn’t name names.
In its production update, MARA revealed it mined 9,457 BTC throughout 2024 and went shopping for an additional 22,065 BTC at an average price of $87,205. That’s nearly $2 billion spent on Bitcoin. As of press time, MARA held 44,893 BTC, valued at about $4.4 billion.
Modest returns, bold strategy
The company’s lending program isn’t pulling in massive profits yet. Samuels called the returns “a modest single-digit yield,” adding that MARA experimented with Bitcoin loans throughout 2024. “The long-term objective is to generate sufficient yield to offset operating expenses.”
This approach is risky in a market still licking its wounds from the collapse of lenders like BlockFi, Genesis, Celsius, and Babel in 2022. Those meltdowns exposed just how dangerous counterparty risks can be, but MARA appears confident in its choice of partners.
Despite the risks, MARA raked in $3.9 million in interest income during Q3 2024. Most of this came from cash on its balance sheet and Bitcoin loans. By mid-2024, the company had already generated $4.8 million in interest income, though earlier filings didn’t specify Bitcoin lending as part of the haul.
MARA also broke the 50 exahash per second (EH/s) mark, ending the year with an energized hashrate of 53 EH/s. Though the realized hashrate—what’s actually contributing to the Bitcoin network—remained steady at 47 EH/s. That consistency didn’t go unnoticed in a year where Bitcoin miners faced halved block rewards following the April 2024 halving.
Bitcoin miners break record as 2025 begins
The Bitcoin mining industry has started 2025 with a bang. On January 3, the network’s total hashrate hit 1,000 exahashes per second (EH/s)—double the 510 EH/s recorded in January 2024. This comes despite the halving, which cut mining rewards from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC.
It slashed miner revenues in half, but instead of slowing down, miners threw billions into better rigs and energy-saving systems to stay profitable. The investments are paying off. These massive upgrades are driving efficiency like never before, even as rewards dwindle.
The result? Bitcoin’s mining infrastructure is now more powerful than ever, with miners proving they can adapt to anything the market throws at them.
As Bitcoin prices soared past $108,000 in December, miners started exploring new ways to cash in. Securities lending is one of the hottest trends. Miners are lending Bitcoin to get shares in ETFs, which they then loan out for a profit.
Then there’s high-performance computing (HPC). Companies like BitDigital and Terawulf are turning their mining operations into hubs for AI and HPC tasks, making the most of their energy setups. This is expected to rake in billions by 2027.
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