Mara’s Bitcoin holdings near $5 billion after tripling in a year

Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC) mining company MARA Holdings has nearly tripled its Bitcoin holdings over the past 12 months, according to its Q1 2025 financial report.

MARA’s Bitcoin stash grew 175% from 17,320 BTC at the end of Q1 2024 to 47,531 BTC in Q1 2025.

This places MARA as the second-largest public company holder of Bitcoin, behind Strategy (MSTR), which holds 555,450 BTC.

Despite the increase in holdings, MARA’s Bitcoin production declined by 19% year-over-year to 2,286 BTC for the quarter.

The company attributed this drop to the recent Bitcoin halving event, which reduced mining rewards to 3.125 BTC per block, tightening supply.

MARA’s Q1 revenue slightly missed analyst expectations by 0.35%, according to Zacks Research, and the company has only exceeded revenue estimates once in the past four quarters.

On May 8, MARA’s stock price rose 7.2% during trading but later declined nearly 2% in after-hours trading.

Other Bitcoin mining firms reported similar challenges in Q1 2025.

Riot Platforms noted that its average cost to mine Bitcoin rose to $43,808, nearly double the $23,034 cost in Q1 2024, but it beat revenue estimates by 1%.

CleanSpark and Core Scientific both missed revenue expectations, with Core Scientific’s Q1 revenue falling 8.11% short of estimates and down from $179.3 million a year earlier.

Hut8 reported the largest revenue miss, falling 35% below expectations with $21 million compared to a projected $35 million.

The sector continues to face pressure from rising mining costs and halving effects, impacting production and earnings despite rising Bitcoin prices.

“Bitcoin miners face increasing operational costs even as Bitcoin prices fluctuate, challenging profitability,” aaccording to Zacks Research.

At the time of reporting, the Bitcoin (BTC) price was $103,707.