Marathon Digital Holdings Sells 1,500 BTC, War Chest in Sight
• Marathon Digital Holdings, the second largest publicly-listed Bitcoin holder, sold 1,500 BTC for the first time in two years.
• A company spokesman said that this was not due to financial distress but rather to create a “war chest” of liquidity composed of both cash and Bitcoin.
• The current Bitcoin price increase contributed to the decision to sell some of its holdings.
Marathon’s First Bitcoin Sale in Two Years
Marathon Digital Holdings, the second largest publicly-listed Bitcoin holder, recently offloaded some of its BTC for the first time in two years. With a total value of $35.3 million at current prices, 1,500 BTC were sold during January.
Not Result of Distress
A company spokesman clarified that this sale was not a result of financial distress but rather an effort to create a “war chest” of liquidity composed of both cash and Bitcoin. Marathon had been diamond-handing its Bitcoin until now but wanted to have more resources ready going into 2021. Vice President of Corporate Communications Charlie Schumacher also noted that the rise in Bitcoin’s price could have contributed to the decision to sell part of their holdings.
Mining Data Center
Marathon is also one of the biggest crypto miners and operates data centers across North America and Europe from which it generates cryptocurrency through mining activities. This activity has seen some disruption due to various factors such as power outages or hardware maintenance needs but overall has gone well for Marathon so far.
Debt Reduction & Cash Position Increase
In terms of finances, Marathon wants to use part of their newly acquired funds from selling BTC towards paying down debt and increasing their unrestricted cash positions while still holding on most crypto assets long-term as they are bullish on its prospects over time.
Crypto Mining Industry Outlook
As more companies start turning towards alternative ways such as cryptocurrency mining for generating income streams, it will be interesting to see how industry players like Marathon respond and adapt in order stay competitive amidst changing market dynamics over time.