Marathon Digital (NASDAQ:MARA) used its fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 earnings call to outline a strategic shift beyond Bitcoin mining, centered on a newly announced joint venture with Starwood Digital Ventures and the closing of a majority investment in French data center operator Exaion. Management framed the moves as a push to monetize the company’s power-heavy site portfolio through AI and high-performance compute (HPC) infrastructure, while maintaining Bitcoin mining as a flexible, near-term use of energy capacity.
Starwood partnership targets AI/HPC buildout using MARA’s powered sites
Chairman and CEO Fred Thiel said the company’s joint venture with Starwood Digital Ventures—described as Starwood Capital Group’s data center development platform—will accelerate MARA’s expansion into AI and HPC and represents a step in its evolution “from a pure-play Bitcoin miner into an energy and digital infrastructure company.” Under the structure, MARA will contribute “dedicated energy” and “advanced data center sites,” while Starwood will lead design, development, tenant sourcing, construction, and facility operations.
In the Q&A, Thiel clarified that for each site the company’s initial JV contribution would be the asset, along with capitalizing its share of development costs to retain up to 50% ownership. He said the agreement includes mechanisms allowing MARA not to fund its portion and to be “liquidated” at an “attractive price” if it opts out, though he said further details could be provided later.
Load balancing plan keeps mining as a flexible use of power
Management emphasized that the JV structure allows MARA to continue mining through lease arrangements while using excess power at preferred prices during periods of lower hyperscale utilization. Thiel described a “load balancing” concept in which Bitcoin mining could ramp up when AI inference demand is lower, such as at night or on weekends, depending on arrangements with tenants.
He said this load balancing would be enabled by technologies including a previously announced partnership with TAE Batteries, which he described as a battery technology capable of switching at sub-millisecond rates to balance load within data centers. When asked whether the JV would share in Bitcoin mining revenue tied to load balancing, Thiel said it would be “primarily” retained by MARA.
Exaion acquisition positioned for sovereign cloud and enterprise AI
Thiel also said the company closed its investment in Exaion, acquiring a 64% stake. He positioned Exaion as complementary to the Starwood effort: Starwood to accelerate hyperscale cloud opportunities, and Exaion to strengthen private enterprise and sovereign cloud deployments, particularly in international markets.
In response to analyst questions, Thiel provided additional detail on Exaion’s origins and capabilities. He said Exaion was developed within EDF, a French state-owned energy company, to support private cloud and AI needs for operating and optimizing infrastructure such as nuclear reactors. Thiel said Exaion has about 90 people, operates four data centers including Tier IV capacity, and provides services spanning AI loads, traditional CPU, and storage. He also cited examples of Exaion’s blockchain infrastructure work, including supporting stablecoin issuance and tokenization efforts for French entities, and said Exaion operates a quantum computer in Montreal.
Thiel said MARA’s goal is to leverage Exaion’s infrastructure-as-a-service and platform technologies to deploy secure private cloud capabilities globally, particularly as some enterprises and governments seek alternatives to U.S. hyperscalers due to data sovereignty and regulatory concerns. He said MARA’s majority control will allow the company to take the technology outside Europe.
2025 volatility pressured results; mining operations expanded but production fell
Khan said Bitcoin price volatility defined the quarter, noting Bitcoin began the period around $111,000, reached a high near $125,000 in early October, then fell to roughly $87,000 by quarter end after an “overnight liquidation event” and negative sentiment. He also highlighted MARA’s sensitivity to Bitcoin price movements, stating that every $10,000 change in Bitcoin price results in an approximately $538 million change in the value of the company’s Bitcoin holdings.
Financially, MARA reported fourth-quarter revenue of $202.3 million, down from $214.4 million in the prior-year quarter. Full-year 2025 revenue rose 38% to $907.1 million from $656.4 million in 2024. Khan said that while Bitcoin’s average price increased 15% year over year, production volumes were lower. MARA mined an average of 21.9 Bitcoin per day in Q4 compared with 27.1 Bitcoin per day in Q4 2024, which he said resulted in about 481 fewer Bitcoin mined in the quarter. The decline was attributed primarily to higher network difficulty amid rising total network hash rate.
MARA reported a net loss of $1.7 billion, or a loss of $4.52 per diluted share, for the quarter versus net income of $528.3 million, or $1.24 per diluted share, in Q4 2024. Khan said the Q4 2025 loss included a $1.5 billion loss due to a change in fair value of digital assets, including Bitcoin receivable, tied to Bitcoin’s price decline. For the full year, MARA posted a net loss of $1.3 billion compared with net income of $541 million in the prior year. The company also recorded an $82.8 million non-cash goodwill impairment charge following its annual impairment review.
Hash rate and Bitcoin holdings grew; balance sheet planning highlighted
Operationally, Khan said Q4 included “exceptional” performance across core owned mining sites, with several operating at or near 100% uptime. Over 2025, energized hash rate increased from 53.2 exahash to 66.4 exahash. Bitcoin holdings increased more than 20% year over year, from roughly 44,000 Bitcoin to nearly 54,000 Bitcoin. As of Dec. 31, 2025, MARA held 53,822 Bitcoin, up 8,929 from the prior year, according to Khan.
Khan said 15,315 Bitcoin were loaned, actively managed, or pledged as collateral. He stated that 9,377 Bitcoin were loaned to counterparties, generating approximately $32.1 million of interest income during the year, and that 5,938 Bitcoin were pledged to access financing. He characterized the approach as a “digital asset management strategy” that includes trading initiatives, lending, and collateralized borrowings, while emphasizing the company is “an operating company, not a passive Bitcoin balance sheet vehicle.”
On funding strategy, Khan said MARA suspended use of its ATM program at the end of Q3 2025 and funded operations through the sale of a portion of mined Bitcoin, noting Q4 was the first quarter since 2022 in which the ATM was not used. He said the company expects to continue opportunistically monetizing Bitcoin in 2026 to enhance financial flexibility and potentially fund capital projects, subject to market conditions and priorities.
Khan also addressed debt maturities, noting the company’s $925 million notes due 2031 and $1 billion notes due 2030 include put rights in 2027. He said MARA is proactively planning for the potential cash obligation, pointing to Bitcoin holdings at current market prices representing approximately two times the puts and noting the notes’ zero-coupon structure limits ongoing cash interest burden.
About Marathon Digital (NASDAQ:MARA)
Marathon Digital Holdings, Inc is a digital asset technology company specializing in the mining and acquisition of bitcoin. Headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada, the firm employs high-performance application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) miners and proprietary software to secure the Bitcoin network and expand its crypto-mining footprint. Marathon Digital focuses on operational efficiency and scalability, while maintaining rigorous standards for regulatory compliance and corporate governance.
The company operates multiple large-scale mining facilities throughout North America, including sites in Texas, Montana and New York.
