Mining Company MARA Sells $1.5 Billion Bitcoin in Q1, Shifting Growth Logic to AI Infrastructure

Cryptocurrency mining company MARA Holdings is still producing Bitcoin, but the first quarter financial report shows that the company is shifting its focus from pure mining to electric power and AI infrastructure.

In the short term, the mining business has not contracted. In the first quarter, MARA's power-on computing power increased by 33% year-on-year to 72.2 EH/s, producing 2,247 Bitcoins, higher than the previous quarter's 2,011; but the company also stated that it does not expect to make large-scale purchases of ASIC miners.

For miners, large-scale purchases of mining machines usually correspond to the continued increase of future computing power and minting capabilities. MARA's reduced investment indicates that the company is no longer betting all new resources on pure mining capacity, but rather wants to keep power assets flexible, contributing to Bitcoin revenue while reserving room for AI and critical IT load shifts.

Financial pressure is also driving this change. In the first quarter, MARA's revenue decreased by 18% year-on-year to $174.6 million, and the net loss widened to $1.3 billion, mainly related to the unrealized loss of 38,689 Bitcoins it holds.

MARA sold $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin for the quarter to improve liquidity and repay debt, with $1.1 billion sold near the end of the quarter used to repurchase convertible notes; after the transaction, the company's ranking in the Bitcoin holdings of public companies dropped two places to fourth.