Bitcoin miner MARA Holdings sold 13,597 BTC for about $1.1 billion after the third quarter closed and used $750 million of the proceeds to repay all of its bitcoin-backed loans.
Key Takeaways
A $1.1 Billion Sale Disclosed in the 10-Q
The sale surfaced in MARA’s quarterly report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Nov. 9, which read as follows:
Subsequent to quarter end, the Company sold 13,597 bitcoin for aggregate proceeds of approximately $1.1 billion.
The figures imply an average sale price of roughly $81,000 per coin, and the loans that MARA cleared were new.
On Aug. 4, the company took out two bitcoin-collateralized term loans totaling $750 million from Coinbase Credit and Two Prime. The Coinbase facility alone was $450 million, backed by 11,250 BTC, and was not due until August 2028. As of Sept. 30, a total of 17,477 BTC was pledged against the two loans, the filing shows. All of it has now been returned to MARA.
In its shareholder letter, MARA said the repayment leaves less than 5% of its BTC holdings loaned or pledged. Combined with the $1.4 billion, or 37%, of total debt it has cut since January, the company said, the move “decreased our exposure to bitcoin price volatility.”
Revenue Falls 35% as Bitcoin’s Price Slides
The quarter itself showed how much a weaker bitcoin price has squeezed miners as MARA reported Q3 2026 revenue of $164.2 million, down 35% from $252.4 million a year earlier. It mined 2,247 BTC, up 5%, but the average price of the bitcoin it mined fell 37% to $71,688 from $114,440, according to the 10-Q.
Paper gains on its bitcoin holdings and receivables pushed net income to $632.1 million, from $123.1 million a year ago. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose to $857.7 million while energized hashrate climbed 18% to 71.2 exahashes per second (EH/s), and purchased energy cost per BTC at its owned sites came in at $39,674.
MARA has been a steady seller all year, selling about 26,984 BTC in the first nine months of 2026 to fund operations and other needs, the filing shows. In October, Bitcoin.com News reported that MARA-linked wallets had been sending bitcoin to exchanges in 500 BTC lots as its stock sank nearly 45% in less than a month.
Miners Keep Trading Bitcoin for Power
MARA is not alone in the offloading as Riot Platforms also sold 10,599 BTC for $751.5 million in the third quarter, while Hut 8 sold about $250 million worth across Q3 and October as both companies redirect capital into artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure.
MARA postured its own shift the same way, adding:
Bitcoin built the foundation. Power created the opportunity. Our strategy now is simple: maximize the value of every megawatt we control.
It added that it is “not a pivot away from bitcoin,” calling mining a flexible way to monetize power while higher-value projects are built.
Those projects are still in progress, and the MARA team said it received Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approval for its Long Ridge acquisition, a 485 MW natural gas plant in Ohio, and expects to close in the coming weeks. Its subsidiary Exaion signed a $79 million, four-year GPU-as-a-service contract with its first U.S. customer. MARA is targeting two data center leases before year-end, but warned that “timing could slip into next year.”
The miner’s board also authorized a share repurchase program of up to $500 million.
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WRITTEN BYShiraz JagatiCrypto Reporter
