Key conclusions
- Listed mining giant MARA sold 2,213 bitcoins in the second quarter, representing 91.37% of the volume mined during the period.
- The company raised $600 million in new debt secured by a pledge of 18,750 BTC to finance the acquisition of the Long Ridge Power Plant for AI infrastructure.
- The quarterly report does not disclose collateral retention rates, which makes it impossible to calculate the market price of the asset that triggers the forced liquidation of the position.
MARA sold 2,213 bitcoins in the second quarter, allocating almost all of its current mined volume to repayment of liabilities and operations. Immediately after this sale, the management took out new loans worth $600 million secured by 18,750 BTC. The capital raised is to be used to finance the purchase of the Long Ridge energy facility, which the company wants to transform into a computing center for artificial intelligence.
Biggest Bitcoin Miner’s Holdings Shrink Nearly 30% MARA, the largest publicly traded Bitcoin miner, reported a 29% year over year drop in its Bitcoin holdings to 35,577 bitcoin:native in Q2. Revenue decreased 27%, while net loss reached $611 million. However, hashrate increased
Long Ridge funding through MARA
The debt structure is based on two loan agreements dated August 4 with a total value of USD 750 million. Coinbase provided a $450 million line, which includes $300 million in new debt and a refinancing of a prior $150 million obligation. The second lender was Two Prime, which provided USD 300 million.
The security of 18,750 BTC represents 52.7% of the 35,577 bitcoins reported by the company on its balance sheet as of June 30. However, the financial data shows discrepancies in collateral pools because the report combines values from two different dates without providing coverage of old and new contracts.
At the end of June, MARA held 26,307 liquid bitcoins, while 4,742 BTC was in loans and 4,528 BTC was acting as collateral. Adding the old reserves to the new August pledge would result in double counting of the same assets.
Liquidation Risk and MARA Collateral Ratios
The lack of transparency in debt servicing rules remains a key problem for shareholders. The official investor report does not provide minimum collateral retention rates, liquidation formulas or margin call thresholds.
Failure to provide additional deposits in the event of a decline in cryptocurrency valuation entitles creditors to immediately seize and sell the pledged tokens on the market. The interest rate on the Coinbase line is the Federal Reserve Rate plus 3.875% due in August 2028. A loan from Two Prime carries a fixed cost of 7.65% per annum with an identical maturity period.
In the second quarter, MARA recorded $174.9 million in revenue and a net loss of $611.3 million. The financial result was burdened by the accounting valuation of held bitcoins, generating a paper loss of USD 342.7 million. In the entire first half of the year, cash outflow from operating activities reached USD 471.3 million.
Conditions for taking over the power plant for the AI project
The Long Ridge purchase transaction has not been formally finalized yet. The Federal Trade Commission approved the antitrust application on June 16, but the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is still reviewing the documentation and has not issued a final decision.
The purchase agreement sets a final closing date of November 30, with an option to extend to June 30, 2027. Termination of the contract for reasons attributable to the buyer will charge the entity’s balance sheet with a guarantee fee of USD 75 million. So far, the management board has not presented any binding agreement with a commercial tenant of computing capacity for the planned complex.
