MARA Holdings (MARA)’s third-quarter profit remained highly dependent on Bitcoin prices, while revenue was dragged down by the decline in coin prices; selling Bitcoin to repay debt and initiating buybacks temporarily eased pressure on the balance sheet and cash flow. On November 10 Beijing time, MARA released its third-quarter 2026 results and held a conference call. The company is at a critical stage of transitioning from a Bitcoin mining company to an “energy-backed digital infrastructure enterprise,” and the signing progress of AI/HPC data center leases and Bitcoin disposal strategy became the most closely watched topics at this meeting.
In the third quarter, the company achieved revenue of $164.2 million, down 35% year-over-year and below the market consensus estimate of $181.9 million, due to a 37% year-over-year decline in the average price of Bitcoin mined, with production growth only partially offsetting the price impact. Net income was $632.1 million, with diluted earnings per share of $1.28, far exceeding market expectations of a loss of $0.20 per share, compared with $123.1 million in the same period last year; profit growth was mainly driven by $885.3 million in unrealized fair value gains from Bitcoin price appreciation during the quarter. Adjusted EBITDA was $857.7 million, compared with $395.6 million in the same period last year. In terms of operational metrics, energized hash rate increased to 71.2 EH/s, up 18% year-over-year; power cost at self-operated sites was $0.04/kWh, and the energy cost per Bitcoin at owned sites was $39,674; 2,247 Bitcoins were mined during the quarter, and 3,891 Bitcoins were sold at an average price of $75,300.
Management stated that it is striving to sign two data center lease agreements before the end of the year, but given the volatile market environment, signing may be delayed until next year. The company has sold approximately 13,597 Bitcoins, cashing out about $1.1 billion, of which $750 million was used to fully repay Bitcoin-backed loans, and a new stock repurchase authorization of up to $500 million was added. CEO Fred Thiel stated that Bitcoin laid the foundation, power brought the opportunity, and the core of the company’s strategy is to maximize the value of every megawatt it controls. Previously, the company had also sold 15,000 Bitcoins for $1.1 billion to repay convertible debt.
Competitor Riot (RIOT) signed an AI-related lease agreement worth $28 billion for its Corsicana campus, while MARA acquired a Texas site from HIF for $600 million in Bitcoin and AI-related assets, and competition in the AI infrastructure sector has clearly intensified. The current Bitcoin trading price is below the average purchase price of $75,451 set by MicroStrategy (MSTR), which may affect the company’s subsequent pricing strategy for asset disposals. In addition, regulators set January 4 as the deadline for Binance, Tether, and others to comply with regulations, regulatory pressure is rising, and coupled with Avalanche’s 28% decline over four weeks, underperforming Bitcoin and Ethereum, industry capital flows and the price trends of various crypto assets are all being tested.
