New York, March 3, 2026, 07:41 EST — Premarket
- MARA shares ticked higher before the bell, with investors digesting a firmer bitcoin and fresh signals that the company is open to selling some of its holdings.
- The miner said it’s able to sell bitcoin from its balance sheet, not only the fresh coins it mines.
- Attention turns to whether there’s any update on sales or fresh funding for the AI-ready data center plans.
MARA Holdings, Inc (NASDAQ: MARA) climbed 5.8% to $9.45 before the bell this Tuesday. Bitcoin, meanwhile, edged up roughly 2% to $67,381.
The change comes after the company’s annual filing revealed a shift in its traditional stance on holding bitcoin. For a miner, policy adjustments like this—especially with a balance sheet tied to crypto prices—don’t go unnoticed.
The story right now? Miners are dealing with wild swings in coin prices, hefty electricity costs, and the pressure to fund whatever comes next. MARA keeps framing itself as something beyond a straightforward bitcoin miner—which tends to mean higher capex and a fresh round of questions on liquidity.
MARA disclosed in its latest 10-K filing Monday that the company “expanded the strategy to allow for sales of bitcoin held on our balance sheet” as of 2026. By the close of 2025, it held 53,822 bitcoin—valued at roughly $4.7 billion using the year-end spot price of $87,498. The firm also logged a decrease of about $422.2 million in the fair value of its bitcoin stash through 2025. SEC
The filing detailed MARA’s scale: the company reported running roughly 490,000 mining rigs and 66.4 exahashes per second of “energized” hashrate, representing its installed computing power. Total energy capacity came in at about 1.9 gigawatts. Purchased energy costs hit $179.0 million in 2025, according to the filing. MARA
Offloading bitcoin has its pros and cons. Companies might use proceeds to bankroll projects or expand, sidestepping debt or issuing more shares. But there’s a trade-off—selling chips away at the crypto exposure that draws in certain investors.
MARA is betting on data centers built for artificial intelligence and other high-performance computing—intensive work that often gets locked in with long-term contracts. In a February 26 press release alongside an SEC filing, CEO Fred Thiel said MARA’s “power rich sites give customers what they need most: predictable access to energy at scale.” Starwood Capital’s Barry Sternlicht, for his part, described data centers as “the infrastructure responsible for driving the modern economy.” SEC
This pivot is no isolated move. Core Scientific—also listed in the U.S.—unloaded $175 million worth of bitcoin in January, a clear sign of its accelerating AI transition. The sale highlights how miners are weighing bitcoin holdings against urgent cash demands. CoinDesk
But there’s a straightforward risk. Bitcoin drops, competition heats up, mining margins quickly shrink—and those AI or data center projects aren’t immediate money-makers. They still require customers, time, and capital. Heavier reliance on collateralized loans? That’s tougher if coin prices stumble.
Investors are eyeing any fresh clues on MARA’s approach to unloading its holdings—especially if those sales connect to data-center project funding. Macro factors loom large as well. The Federal Reserve’s upcoming rate decision, set for March 17-18, is a crucial point for gauging rate bets, and it tends to filter straight into sentiment on crypto-tied equities. Federal Reserve
The near-term action could hit earlier than expected. Traders are eyeing Friday’s U.S. Employment Situation report for February, set for 8:30 a.m. ET—a release known for shaking up yields and the dollar, often dragging bitcoin and related mining stocks with it. Bureau of Labor Statistics
