Mara Holdings sells 13,597 BTC after Q3, still holds 34,012 BTC

Mara Holdings has sold 1,565 Bitcoin, bringing its total holdings down to 34,012 BTC. The move is the latest chapter in what has become one of the most significant strategy reversals in the Bitcoin mining industry.

Not long ago, MARA, formerly Marathon Digital Holdings, was competing with MicroStrategy for the title of most aggressive Bitcoin accumulator among publicly traded companies. Now it is one of the sector’s most active sellers.

From hoarder to seller: how MARA got here

The 34,012 BTC figure was already established as of the end of September, according to the company’s Q3 shareholder letter. What that letter revealed went well beyond a single quarterly snapshot.

After September 30, MARA sold an additional 13,597 BTC at an average price of approximately $81,039, generating approximately $1.1 billion in proceeds. To put the scale of that disposal in perspective: the company mined only 2,247 BTC during the entire third quarter. It sold roughly six times its quarterly mining output in a single post-quarter transaction.

The company directed $750 million of those proceeds toward fully repaying its Bitcoin-collateralized term loans. That debt repayment freed 17,477 BTC from collateral, dropping MARA’s pledged or lent Bitcoin holdings to under 5% of total assets. At the end of the prior quarter, that figure stood at 57%.

Year-to-date through the end of 2026, MARA has sold over 40,000 BTC in total, including approximately 26,984 BTC across the first nine months of the year.

The financials tell a complicated story

MARA’s Q3 revenue came in at $164 million, down 35% year-over-year. Net profit, however, told a different story entirely. The company reported $632 million in net profit for Q3, a figure boosted substantially by fair-value gains tied to Bitcoin’s price appreciation during the period.

Hash rate reached 71.2 EH/s during Q3, up 18% year-over-year.

On-chain activity in early November pointed toward continued liquidity preparation. Approximately 1,650 BTC moved to firms including Galaxy Digital and Copper, consistent with the broader selling pattern the company has established throughout the year.

What MARA is building toward

The company has stated its intention to keep monetizing Bitcoin holdings to fund three priorities: AI data center infrastructure, ongoing debt reduction, and potential stock repurchases of up to $500 million.

By unwinding its collateral structure, MARA has removed a meaningful source of systemic risk from its balance sheet. Its Bitcoin holdings are now largely unencumbered, which paradoxically gives it more flexibility to hold or sell on its own timeline.

The 36% year-over-year decline in MARA’s Bitcoin holdings, driven almost entirely by sales rather than production shortfalls, represents a fundamental repositioning.