We recently published a list of 10 Companies Hoarding Bitcoin Like There’s No Tomorrow. In this article, we are going to take a look at where MARA Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:MARA) stands against other companies hoarding bitcoin like there’s no tomorrow.
Cryptocurrencies have been surging since the beginning of the year. After a small drop in January, Bitcoin has been on an upward trajectory and hasn’t looked back since. The asset is up over 141% year-to-date as of December 17 as it reached its record highs of over $108K before dropping down to nearly $107K today. President-elect Donald Trump’s win has also been significantly impactful on the asset’s price as Trump has been crypto-friendly so far, including his proposal for a “national Bitcoin stockpile.”
The New York Times reported that Eric Trump attended the Bitcoin MENA 2024 conference in Abu Dhabi, where he emphasized his family’s strong backing of cryptocurrency, alongside his father’s presidency, which he claimed would be the most “pro-crypto” in U.S. history.
The Quiet Revolution: Bitcoin’s Shift to Mainstream Finance
As Bitcoin gains traction as a reserve asset for governments and central banks, its adoption continues to grow, with institutions and corporations playing a key role in this transformation. The collaboration between traditional financial entities and established crypto companies signals a significant shift in the market.
In a CNBC interview, Alessio Quaglini, CEO and co-founder of Hex Trust, discussed the next phase of Bitcoin adoption, which will begin when governments and central banks start using Bitcoin as a reserve asset. This shift, once unthinkable, is becoming a reality as some governments already hold crypto assets, often due to enforcement actions. Quaglini believes that when governments proactively purchase Bitcoin, which has a limited supply, it will significantly transform the crypto market, surpassing the current institutional adoption phase.
He also addressed the growing competition in the crypto space, particularly from traditional financial institutions. Quaglini emphasized that while these institutions are entering the market, many prefer to collaborate with established digital asset companies rather than operate independently. This partnership trend is beneficial, as it leverages the expertise and infrastructure of digital asset firms to offer crypto services to clients.
Looking ahead to 2025, Quaglini foresees a structural shift in supply and demand driving Bitcoin’s price trend, estimating a 5-10% quarterly appreciation. Key drivers for this growth will include institutional adoption, with companies like MicroStrategy continuing to buy Bitcoin, and the addition of the company to the Nasdaq-100, which will integrate Bitcoin more deeply into mainstream finance. Quaglini views this as a major event that will open the door for digital assets to gain even broader acceptance, especially as part of corporate asset allocations.
Our Methodology
For this article, we scoured the internet to find companies listed on NYSE and NASDAQ holding Bitcoin and found their total holdings through different sources, including press releases, 10-Q, 10-K, and 8-K filings. We chose 10 companies that hold the largest sum of Bitcoin and listed the stocks in ascending order of their holdings. We also mentioned the hedge fund sentiment around each stock.
Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).
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MARA Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:MARA)
Bitcoin Holdings: 40,435
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 12
MARA Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:MARA), headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, is a major digital asset technology company focused on cryptocurrency mining and blockchain. Originally Marathon Patent Group, it rebranded to Marathon Digital Holdings in 2021 and later to MARA Holdings in August 2024. It is known as one of the largest Bitcoin miners and corporate Bitcoin holders globally.
MARA’s (NASDAQ:MARA) mining operations reached record production in November, with 254 blocks mined, a 27% increase from October. The company produced 907 BTC, up 26% month-over-month, and its hash rate rose by 15% to 46.1 EH/s. MARA also acquired 12,965 BTC at an average cost of $77,692 and mined 8,563 BTC, resulting in a BTC yield per share of 37.2%.
Later on December 10, MARA announced that it holds 40,435 BTC. The company said the following in a post on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter):
“Using the proceeds from its zero-coupon convertible notes offerings, MARA has acquired 11,774 BTC for ~$1.1 billion at ~$96,000 per #bitcoin and has achieved BTC Yield of 12.3% QTD and 47.6% YTD. As of 12/9/2024, we hold 40,435 BTC, currently valued at $3.9 billion based on a spot BTC price of $96,500.”
Overall, MARA ranks 2nd on our list of companies hoarding bitcoin like there’s no tomorrow. While we acknowledge the potential of MARA as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than MARA but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.