Marathon parks $1.1b in Bitcoin after note sale

Bitcoin miner Marathon Holdings has increased its total BTC holdings to $3.9 billion after completing the sale of convertible notes.

Marathon Holdings purchased 11,774 Bitcoin (BTC) for an estimated $1.1 billion at a spot price of approximately $96,000 per token, the Florida-based blockchain infrastructure firm announced on Dec. 10. Marathon Holdings’ total Bitcoin holdings are pegged at $96,500 per token. approximately 4 billion dollars. BTC was trading close to $98,000 at the time of writing, following an influx of liquidations on Monday, December 9.

24-hour BTC price chart – December 10 | Source: crypto.news

Marathon raised capital for Bitcoin purchases by offering convertible notes, a growing trend among companies building BTC treasuries. While investors buy these banknotes as cash and receive rights to company shares, companies use this income to buy Bitcoin.

Popularized by MicroStrategy president Michael Saylor, it also introduced a new metric to measure institutional Bitcoin purchasing performance. Called “BTC Return,” the system tracks percentage changes in BTC holdings relative to diluted company shares.

As of December 9, Marathon posted a BTC return of 12.3% quarter-to-date and 47.6% year-to-date. Companies are also exploring BTC-based rewards for shareholders and creating closer integration between cryptocurrency and corporate finance.

Last week, $MSTRTreasury operations generated a BTC Return of 3.3%, providing shareholders with a net benefit of approximately 13,270 BTC, or approximately 1,896 BTC per day. At $98,000 per BTC, this equates to $1.3 billion per week or $186 million per day.

— Michael Saylor⚡️ (@saylor) December 10, 2024

Meanwhile, BTC mining rival Riot Platforms plans to purchase Bitcoin using proceeds from the sale of $500 million in convertible notes. Saylor praised both Marathon and Riot for adopting the Bitcoin Standard and highlighted the growing appetite for BTC among US-based organizations.

MicroStrategy itself led this list of companies trading equity rights in exchange for BTC capital. Saylor’s firm has purchased over $25 billion in BTC since 2020, issuing securities and raising debt to pay the bill. MicroStrategy was also the largest private holder of BTC, with over $40 billion in digital assets.