MARA sells 13,597 Bitcoin to pay off loans, NAV drops to alarming levels?
MARA Holdings reported third-quarter net profit of $634.4 million, compared with $123.1 million in the same period last year, while revenue fell 35% to $164.2 million, with approximately $885 million gained from the revaluation of digital assets.
11/10/20263 min read
The sale of assets is a signal.
Every other major corporation has spent money to add to its holdings this year. Strive reached 43,000 BTC funded by a 15% perpetual preferred stock offering. Metaplanet executed a round-trip transaction and closed higher. Strategy continued issuing. MARA sold over 13,000 coins to pay off debt and has now been surpassed by Strive to become the fifth-largest corporate finance fund.
It's a deliberate repositioning, not one driven by hardship, and that distinction is crucial. A company selling collateral to pay off a loan it secured is reducing leverage in its own structure, which is the most important thing any balance sheet involving bitcoin can do before the price drops. It also relinquishes the upside potential of those coins, which is why almost nobody does it. MARA did it at a price close to $81,000 per coin, implied by the $1.1 billion figure, and if bitcoin rises from here, that decision would seem expensive but still correct on a risk-weighted basis.
The collateral structure is the issue being addressed. Bitcoin-backed loans create margin obligations, which become even tighter as asset values decline—a mechanism that devastated the mining sector in 2022. Liquidating this loan transforms a cyclical debt into a smaller, less constrained position.
The business operations below are shrinking.
Revenue decreased by 35% and block reward income decreased by 37%, an inevitable trend in the mining economy after the halving event. Mining revenue per unit of hashrate gradually decreases structurally, competition increases difficulty, and the only sustainable responses are cheaper electricity or alternative energy usage.
MARA opted for the second option, and Fred Thiel's letter to shareholders unusually stated this, arguing that the opportunity was greater than making money from megawatts and that the company was moving toward fully integrated cloud solutions. The shift was from expanding infrastructure to securing customer leases and generating free cash flow—the language of a company that had stopped considering hashrate growth as its primary metric.
This is a similar shift seen across the industry. TeraWulf reports that HPC leasing accounts for approximately 71% of revenue. Riot has signed a 20-year contract. Bitdeer has partnered with Volta. The argument in every case is that outstanding leasing contracts from trusted AI partners are worth more than mining revenue, and the market has rewarded this shift with multiples that mining has never received.
The $79 million contract may be small, but it's still important.
A $79 million initial customer contract through Exaion is quite modest for a company talking about a portfolio of over 4 gigawatts. Its significance lies more in the product aspect than in the financial one. A GPU contract signed with a specific partner is proof that the transition is generating revenue, which distinguishes MARA from other mining companies that have announced a shift towards AI and issued press releases.
The hurdle that Thiel pointed out is the financial issue. Investment in AI infrastructure is becoming increasingly selective about how projects are financed, and a mining company relocating needs capital with terms assuming a lease agreement will be signed. That's harder to convince at the end of 2026 than a year earlier, and the two lease agreements that MARA is targeting before the end of the year are the real challenge, not the share acquisition.
Assessment and Conclusion
The $500 million buyback authorization, coupled with the sale of bitcoin, is a statement suggesting management views the stock as undervalued compared to the cryptocurrency. For a company whose stock has historically traded as a leveraged alternative to bitcoin, that's a meaningful assertion, and it's only true if the high-performance computing (HPC) business has a value that the market hasn't yet priced.
The way to evaluate MARA from here is to stop seeing it as a bitcoin holding company and start seeing it as a power and data center company with a declining mining business and a backup bitcoin position. On that basis, the questions are about the number of outstanding lease contracts, the cost of capital, and whether the 4 gigawatts of planned capacity will translate into signed agreements. The number of coins no longer tells the whole story.
Disclaimer: The content in this article is for informational, research, data analysis, and reference purposes only regarding the cryptocurrency market. All opinions, assessments, forecasts, or opinions reflect the author's perspective at the time of publication and do not constitute investment advice, solicitations for buying or selling, trading recommendations, advertising, marketing, or promotion of any financial products, services, or cryptocurrencies. Mentions of projects, tokens, protocols, exchanges, wallets, or cryptocurrency service providers (CASPs) are for research, analysis, or informational purposes only and should not be construed as endorsements, recommendations, or guarantees in any way. HCCVenture does not broker, advertise, market, promote, or connect users in Vietnam with any cryptocurrency services from CASPs. HCCVenture does not accept asset custody, investment mandates, manage assets, or execute transactions on behalf of clients. All investment decisions are made entirely through the reader's own research (DYOR), evaluation, and responsibility; HCCVenture is not liable for any losses or damages arising from the use of or reliance on the information presented in this article.
Compiled and analyzed by HCCVenture
Join our information channels: https://link3.to/holdcoincventure
Explore HCCVenture group
HCCVENTURE QUANT JSCO
© 2026 HCCVENTURE. ALL COPYRIGHTS RESERVED.
Connect with us
Popular content
Contact to us
Address: 8th Floor, Bach Dang Complex Building, 50 Bach Dang Street, Hai Chau Ward, Da Nang City, Vietnam.
Phone: 1900 1509
Gmail : sp_contact@hccventure.com
Disclaimer: The information on this website is for informational purposes only and should not be considered investment advice. We are not responsible for any risks or losses arising from investment decisions based on the content here.
TERMS AND CONDITIONS • CUSTOMER PROTECTION POLICY
ANALYTICAL AND NEWS CONTENT IS COMPILED AND PROVIDED BY EXPERTS IN THE FIELD OF DIGITAL FINANCE AND BLOCKCHAIN BELONGING TO HCCVENTURE ORGANIZATION, INCLUDING OWNERSHIP OF THE CONTENT.
RESPONSIBLE FOR MANAGING ALL CONTENT AND ANALYSIS: HCCVENTURE FOUNDER - TRUONG MINH HUY
Read warnings about scams and phishing emails — REPORT A PROBLEM WITH OUR SITE.
