Marathon loans $730M in Bitcoin to third parties

Marathon Digital Holdings (MARA), one of the largest corporate Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC) holders, has temporarily loaned 7,377 BTC, worth approximately $730 million, to third parties.

This amount represents around 16% of the company’s Bitcoin reserves.

The update was disclosed on January 3 as part of the company’s production and mining operations report.

MARA’s total Bitcoin holdings, including the loaned amount, stood at 44,893 BTC, valued at $4.4 billion as of December 31.

MARA described the strategy as a hybrid approach to managing its Bitcoin treasury.

“As a miner that mines and buys Bitcoin, the hybrid approach provides us significant flexibility to acquire Bitcoin at attractive prices,” the company stated.

It allows the firm to benefit from market conditions, especially during price declines, optimising acquisition costs.

The recipients of the BTC loans were not identified, but Robert Samuels, MARA’s Director of Investor Relations, clarified that the loans are “short-term arrangements with well-established third parties.”

He added that the loans are generating a “modest single-digit yield,” with significant interest in the lending program throughout 2024.

Fred Thiel, MARA’s Chairman and CEO, noted that the company mined 9,457 BTC and acquired an additional 22,065 BTC in 2024 at an average price of $87,205 per coin.

“We surpassed our year-end hash rate target of 50 EH/s while improving our fleet efficiency to 20 J/TH,” he said.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin’s mining ecosystem continues to face challenges, including high competition and block reward reductions.

The network’s computing power reached a record 817 EH/s on January 3, but mining profitability remains low, with hashprice recorded at $0.057 per TH/s/day.

At the time of reporting, the Bitcoin (BTC) price was $102,146.