Marathon Digital looks to raise $250 million to boost bitcoin holdings

Marathon Digital, one of the largest publicly traded Bitcoin mining companies in America, has decided to raise an additional $250 million to purchase Bitcoin through a new debt offering.

The company, which purchased $100 million worth of Bitcoin in July, currently has more than 20,000 Bitcoins on its corporate balance sheets.

But the news sent Marathon’s stock tumbling on Monday, falling 8.10% to $15.64 per share, according to Nasdaq data. But Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, has gained positive momentum after a rocky start last week, climbing above $59,000.

Marathon and MicroStrategy aren’t the only companies embracing bitcoin on their balance sheets. Recent examples of this strategy include Elon Musk-led Tesla, fintech firm Fold and healthcare firm Semler Scientific. As a publicly traded company, Marathon’s bitcoin holdings are dwarfed only by MicroStrategy’s.

“This is not a pittance,” crypto analyst George Tung of CryptosRUs said of Marathon’s holdings. “They bought nine figures worth of bitcoin in July alone.”

The company aims to emulate the successful strategy of bitcoin maximalist Michael Saylor’s MicroStrategy, which has seen its own performance increase by more than 1,000% since adopting its pro-bitcoin strategy in August 2010. At one point, MicroStrategy saw its stock return 1,089% — an impressive figure compared to bitcoin’s 461% jump since 2020, according to NYDIG, a bitcoin financial services firm.

It remains to be seen whether Marathon Digital will continue to accumulate more Bitcoin, particularly as part of the overall expansion of its mining business.