Crypto World
MARA Posts $1.7B Q4 Loss as Bitcoin Slump Hits Earnings
MARA Holdings (MARA) reported a fourth quarter 2025 net loss of $1.71 billion, or $4.52 per diluted share, compared with net income of $528.3 million, or $1.24 per diluted share, in the same period a year earlier.
Its shareholder letter filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said revenue in Q4 fell 6% to $202.3 million from $214.4 million in Q4 of 2024, as a lower average Bitcoin (BTC) price outweighed the impact of a higher hashrate.
For the full year 2025, Marathon booked a net loss of $1.31 billion, compared with net income of $541 million in 2024, even though its revenue rose to $907.1 million from $656.4 million a year earlier.
The company said that its Q4 net income was hit by a $1.50 billion negative change in the fair value of digital assets and digital assets receivable, reflecting the decline in Bitcoin’s price from around $114,300 on Sept. 30 to roughly $88,800 on Dec. 31, according to data from CoinGecko.
The company’s share price also took a beating, with MARA stock down 46% in the past six months.
On the production side, Marathon said that it mined 2,011 BTC in Q4 2025, down 6% from 2,144 BTC in the prior quarter and 2,492 BTC in the year-earlier period, and 8,799 BTC for the full year, compared with 9,430 BTC in 2024.
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The company said that it ended 2025 holding 53,822 BTC, including 15,315 BTC loaned or pledged as collateral, with its balance sheet BTC valued at about $4.7 billion at a quarter‑end spot price of $87,498 per coin.
Marathon’s AI and high‑performance compute push
Alongside the numbers, Marathon used its Q4 shareholder letter to outline a multi‑year shift “from a pure‑play Bitcoin miner into an energy and digital infrastructure company,” announcing a strategic joint venture with Starwood Digital Ventures to develop artificial intelligence (AI) and high‑performance compute (HPC) data centers at its power‑rich sites.
Marathon said that the Starwood partnership was designed to support more than 1 gigawatt of IT capacity in its initial phase, with a roadmap that could extend above 2.5 gigawatts over time, and giving Marathon the option to invest up to 50% in individual projects while continuing to mine where power remains attractive.
The company also highlighted its acquisition of a 64% stake in Exaion in February to target “sovereign‑grade” and enterprise AI deployments.
Miners diverge on strategy as drawdown bites
Marathon’s hybrid approach comes as other major miners continue to experiment with different playbooks in response to the latest Bitcoin drawdown.
Hut 8 reported a fourth‑quarter net loss of $279.7 million on Wednesday, as it leans into a $7 billion AI data center lease, while Trump‑backed American Bitcoin reported a $59.5 million Q4 2025 loss on Thursday, yet continues to double down on its mine-and-hoard BTC model.
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