Bitcoin miner MARA has lent 7,377 Bitcoin (BTC) to third parties, constituting 16% of its total reserves of 44,893 BTC. The company has confirmed the arrangement in its latest production update describing the loans as part of a strategy to generate yield and manage operating expenses.
Bitcoin miner MARA has stated that the 7,377 BTC loans are indeed short-term in nature and the company has entered into these arrangements with “credible counterparties only.” Robert Samuels the Company’s Director of Investor Relations said that the lending programme is to achieve ‘modest single-digit yield’ to enhance the operational sustainability.
”The long-term goal is to achieve a level of return on investment adequate to cover operating costs,” Samuels noted. This is in line with the MARA’s continuous involvement in Bitcoin lending in the whole of 2024 where it earned $3.9m in interest income in Q3 and $4.8m in the first half of the year.
Concurrent with the announcement, Bitcoin price trend had turned positive after reclaiming the $98k resistance and trading at $98,194.
As for the third-party borrowers, the MARA did not reveal their identities, but the firm said that the demand for its lending program is still strong in light of increased market risk aversion. The recent failures of BlockFi and Genesis in 2022 have only raised questions about counterparty risks in the crypto lending market.
Bitcoin miner MARA closed the year with a total of 44,893 BTC in its reserve which was a 192.5% growth from the initial 15,174 BTC in the year. The company achieved this growth through two main avenues: mining and acquisitions.
Throughout 2024, MARA mined 9,457 BTC and bought 22,065 BTC at an average rate of $87,205. As of now, total reserves are estimated at about $4.4 billion at the current market price. The firm’s approach to acquisition is consistent with its treasury policy of holding all mined bitcoins and increasing reserves through the capital markets.
Fred Thiel, CEO of MARA, confirmed that the company remains steadfast in its decision of holding Bitcoin in the long-term as a part of the company’s strategic asset.
MARA reported an energized hashrate of 53 exahashes per second (EH/s) as of December 31, exceeding its year-end goal. However, its realized hashrate—the effective mining power used for production—stood at 47 EH/s, consistent with November figures.
The company’s year-end hashrate performance represented a 15% increase compared to earlier in the year. Mining operations remain central to MARA’s growth, as the firm continues to scale its infrastructure to keep pace with the competitive and energy-intensive Bitcoin mining industry.
Bitcoin miner MARA’s CEO Fred Thiel concurrently shared his optimism about Bitcoin’s future, predicting that the cryptocurrency could reach $200,000 by the end of 2025. Speaking to FOX Business, Thiel emphasized the role of institutional adoption and regulatory changes as key drivers for this anticipated growth.
Thiel encouraged retail investors to consider Bitcoin as a long-term asset, advocating for consistent, small-scale investments.
“My recommendation is to put just a little away every month in Bitcoin and forget about it,” he said.
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