MARA Holdings Lends Out 7,377 BTC to Generate Single Digit Yield

MARA Holdings (MARA), the largest bitcoin (BTC) miner by market capitalization, said it is lending 7,377 BTC to third parties to generate a return on its holdings and cover some operating costs.

In a production report released Friday, MARA did not identify the borrowers nor reveal other details regarding the program, which ties up about 16% of its bitcoin. Robert Samuels, the company's vice president of investor relations, said in a post on X that it is earning a yield of less than 10%.

"There has been significant interest in MARA's bitcoin lending program," Samuels posted. "It focuses on short-term arrangements with well-established third parties. It generates a modest single-digit yield. It has been active throughout 2024. The long-term objective is to generate sufficient yield to offset operating expenses".

The company produced 890 bitcoin last month, 2% fewer than in November, the production report shows. Still, it's the second-biggest number of BTC since April's reward halving.

"We mined 249 blocks, the second most blocks in a month on record," Chairman and CEO Fred Thiel said in the report. "MARAPool achieved an impressive annual hash rate growth of 168% in 2024, exceeding bitcoin's network growth rate of 49%".

For all of 2024, MARA acquired 22,065 BTC at an average price of $87,205 and mined an additional 9,457 BTC taking its total held to 44,893 BTC. Bitcoin is currently trading just below $100,000. The company is the second-biggest publicly traded owner of bitcoin, trailing only MicroStrategy (MSTR).

MARA shares rose 2.60% in pre-market trading and have 14% since the start of the year.