Mining company MARA lent out 7,377 BTC to third parties in 2024

Mining company MARA, formerly known as Marathon Digital, lent out 7,377 Bitcoin (BTC) to third parties in 2024, according to a Jan. 3 announcement from the Bitcoin miner.

Vice president of investor relations at MARA Robert Samuels provided more information about MARA’s Bitcoin lending activity but did not cite specific numbers.

According to Samuels, MARA’s Bitcoin lending program “Focuses on short-term arrangements with well-established third parties, generates a modest single-digit yield, and has been active throughout 2024.”

The MARA executive added that the purpose of the lending program is to generate income to offset operating expenses incurred by mining.

Mining is an energy-intensive business with tough fundamentals due to reduced block subsidies every four years during the Bitcoin halving — which last occurred in April 2024 — reducing the block reward to 3.125 BTC per block mined.

Related: MARA CEO says retail investors should buy Bitcoin and ‘forget about it’

MARA hits 50 exahashes per second, grows Bitcoin reserves

MARA became the industry’s first publicly traded mining company to achieve 50 exahashes per second (EH/s) in computing power in December 2024.

On Jan. 3, the mining company announced it surpassed the 50 EH/s milestone and currently has an energized hashrate of 53.2 EH/s.

The Bitcoin miner also acquired 22,065 Bitcoin, at an average price of $87,205 per coin, in 2024 and mined an additional 9,457 BTC — bringing the company’s total Bitcoin holdings to 44,893 BTC.

MARA raised $1.9 billion in capital through two senior convertible note offerings in November and December 2024, which it used to purchase 15,574 BTC for its corporate treasury.

Both note offerings featured zero-interest coupons, with the first note offering maturing in 2030 and the second offering maturing in 2031.

MARA’s pursuit of Bitcoin as a treasury reserve asset has drawn praise from MicroStrategy co-founder Michael Saylor.

Saylor recently said he expects MARA to be the next Bitcoin company to join the Nasdaq 100 stock market index — a weighted index of the 100 largest companies by market capitalization listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

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