The landscape of Bitcoin mining is witnessing a significant shift as two industry titans, MARA Holdings and Core Scientific, announce sweeping changes to their asset management strategies. Departing from the sector’s longstanding principle of holding onto mined Bitcoin for the long term, both companies are preparing to sell substantial portions of their crypto reserves, heralding a new era of liquidity-driven financial management.
MARA Holdings Revises Its Bitcoin Policy
Based in the United States, MARA Holdings is widely recognized as a publicly-traded company operating cutting-edge, large-scale Bitcoin mining facilities. In its latest annual report, MARA revealed it is expanding its financial strategy for 2026 to include more flexibility regarding its Bitcoin holdings—moving beyond its previous policy, which only allowed for the sale of newly mined coins in 2025. The adjustment marks a notable break with tradition and signals a growing willingness to leverage cashing out as a financial tool.
By the end of 2025, MARA’s treasury contained 53,822 Bitcoin. Throughout the year, the value of these digital assets fluctuated, resulting in a recognized fair value loss of $422.2 million. Data show that roughly 28% of MARA’s Bitcoin was used in loans, trading operations, or as collateral. A portion of these coins backed a specific credit line, while a substantial amount was lent out to other companies, generating $32.1 million in interest revenue.
Mining Scale and Strategic Investments
With a formidable fleet of 490,000 mining units delivering a combined computational power of 66.4 exahashes per second, MARA mined a total of 8,799 Bitcoin during 2025. This output trailed previous years due to the 2024 block reward halving and rising network difficulty. The company’s total energy capacity reached 1.9 gigawatts, with annual electricity expenditures climbing to $179 million.
Confronted by turbulent market conditions, MARA introduced its new policy to inject flexibility into its capital management, aiming to withstand price volatility and ensure operational resilience. At the same time, MARA has continued investing in energy-intensive data centers tailored for artificial intelligence and high-performance computing. Such projects call for significant, long-term capital commitments, making the ability to liquidate Bitcoin reserves crucial for future funding options.
Core Scientific Prepares Major Bitcoin Sell-Off
Another heavyweight in the sector, Core Scientific, has also unveiled plans to liquidate nearly all of its Bitcoin holdings over the coming year. The company intends to use these proceeds to repurpose its infrastructure, redirecting capital toward data centers designed to support AI and high-density computational tasks.
Core Scientific already sold approximately 1,900 Bitcoin in January, realizing $175 million in revenue, and ended the year with a balance of 2,537 Bitcoin. Amid restructuring efforts, the company has largely continued mining operations to fulfill energy supply agreements, even as its focus shifts to new business models.
At the close of the year, the firm reported cash and equivalents totaling $530 million. The scale of its ongoing data center projects has opened the door to potential billion-dollar financing. Converting Bitcoin assets into cash reduces reliance on loans or issuing extra shares, strengthening the company’s liquidity position.
That said, such strategies mean forfeiting some direct exposure to potential Bitcoin price rallies. Ultimately, the decisions around treasury management, energy procurement, and technology investments underscore the increasingly intertwined factors shaping the entire crypto mining sector.
