Marathon Digital (MARA), one of the largest Bitcoin mining companies, announced the purchase of $100 million worth of Bitcoin (BTC) in the open market on Thursday.
The company said it would revisit its “HODL” strategy and commit to keeping all mined Bitcoin on its balance sheet.
Marathon Digital Impressive Bitcoin Holdings
This latest acquisition has increased Marathon’s Bitcoin holdings to over 20,000 BTC, which are currently valued at approximately $1.3 billion.
The company has expressed intentions to further increase its Bitcoin reserves through additional open market purchases.
“Adopting a full HODL strategy reflects our confidence in the long-term value of Bitcoin,” Marathon chairman and CEO Fred Thiel said. “We believe Bitcoin is the world’s best treasury reserve asset and support the idea of sovereign wealth funds holding it. We encourage governments and corporations to all hold Bitcoin as a reserve asset.”
Today, we are announcing that MARA has purchased $100,000,000 worth of BTC. And effective immediately, we are once again adopting a full HODL strategy. Learn more about our #Bitcoin Strategic Reserve: pic.twitter.com/pYxiclOtQa
— MARA (@MarathonDH) July 25, 2024
HODL (hold on for dear life) means hanging onto your digital assets, which is an investment strategy of buying crypto without the intention to sell it.
Marathon’s decision to return to a complete HODL strategy marks a notable shift from its approach during the recent crypto winter.
In early 2023, the company began selling its mined digital assets to cover operating expenses, a practice adopted by many miners as the market faced a downturn.
The massive purchase comes amid a resurgence in Bitcoin’s value, largely attributed to the approval of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the U.S. by major financial players like BlackRock.
This development attracted more investors to the market and contributed to Bitcoin reaching a new all-time high in mid-March.
Despite Marathon’s bullish move, Bitcoin’s price has been facing some resistance. At press, Bitcoin is trading at $64,749, down 2.38% in the past 24 hours, according to CoinMarketCap.
Marathon Digital Diverse Strategy in the Crypto Mining Industry
Marathon Digital’s decision to re-embrace the HODL strategy for Bitcoin and its recent diversification efforts signals a shift in the company’s approach that could influence the broader mining sector.
Marathon has also demonstrated a willingness to explore new avenues beyond traditional Bitcoin mining.
Last Month, Marathon announced its entry into mining Kaspa (KAS), a cryptocurrency designed to address Bitcoin’s scalability challenges.
This expansion began in September 2023, with the company mining approximately $16 million worth of Kaspa tokens to date.
Today we’re announcing that we have been actively mining Kaspa.
Diversification has been key to our investments in energy solutions and tech innovations, and it remains crucial in our digital asset compute operations. Read the full press release: https://t.co/rwiXIJCx7q
— MARA (@MarathonDH) June 26, 2024
The decision to mine Kaspa is driven by the potential for higher profit margins, with some Kaspa mining machines reportedly achieving up to 95% margins.
Adam Swick, Marathon’s Chief Growth Officer, emphasized the importance of this move, stating that the company is “able to create a stream of revenue that is diversified from Bitcoin” by mining Kaspa.
He further noted that Marathon’s expertise positions it well to capitalize on the enhanced margins offered by Kaspa ASICs (Application-Specific Integrated Circuits).
This diversification strategy appears to be paying off, as the value of KAS has surged 370.5% since Marathon began mining it, outpacing Bitcoin’s 135% increase over the same period.
The company has already mined 93 million KAS tokens, indicating a major investment in this new direction.
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