Breaking: Bitcoin Miner MARA Acquires 15,574 BTC For $1.53 Billion

Bitcoin miner MARA Holdings announced that it has bought 15,574 BTC with a total value of $1.53 billion, bringing its total number of Bitcoin held to 44,394 BTC, making the firm the publicly traded company with the largest reserves of Bitcoin.

Bitcoin Miner MARA Buys 15,574 BTC for $1.53 Billion

In a filing to the SEC and the post on X, formerly Twitter, MARA said the acquisition was financed with proceeds from its recently completed zero-coupon convertible notes offerings. The firm also said it had repurchased about $263 million in aggregate principal amount of its existing convertible notes due 2026. It intends to use the remaining proceeds of the notes to acquire more Bitcoin.

MARA raised $1.925 billion from 0% convertible notes in November and December. Using the proceeds from its zero-coupon convertible notes offerings, MARA has acquired 15,574 BTC for ~$1.53 billion at ~$98,529 per #bitcoin and repurchased ~$263 million in aggregate principal amount… pic.twitter.com/ycGRk9BYfv

— MARA (@MARAHoldings) December 19, 2024

The company announced that it had acquired the Bitcoins at an average price of $96,000 per BTC. MARA also pointed out a Bitcoin yield of 12.3% QTD and 47.6% YTD. With this transaction, MARA now possesses 40,435 BTC, worth about $3.9 billion at current market prices.

The move is reminiscent of a strategy popularized by MicroStrategy’s Michael Saylor, focused on large-scale Bitcoin accumulation. Saylor recently stated he sees MARA Holdings entering Nasdaq 100 Index soon.

Buying Spree After the Price Drop

The purchase by MARA was announced just a day after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell clarified that the central bank cannot own Bitcoin under existing regulations and isn’t seeking legislative changes to enable such ownership.

The timing of the news coincided with a plunge in markets. Bitcoin fell 5% in its biggest plunge in more than three months as a wider sell-off was sparked by the Federal Reserve’s hawkish comments on the trajectory of interest rates and the scant possibility of rate reductions in 2025.

For a while, it approached, but then pulled back from, a $100,000 perch, amid the impact both of Powell’s hawkish views and of unease at a possible role of Bitcoin as a reserve asset.

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