by Coinstrooper Crypto Articles
Quick Take
  • posted a $1.7 billion net loss in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2025, a sharp reversal from the $528 million profit it recorded a year earlier.
  • This report comes only hours after the Bitcoin miner entered a strategic partnership with Barry Sternlicht’s Starwood Capital Group.
  • MARA’s $1.7 billion Q4 loss came against the backdrop of a roughly 30% decline in Bitcoin’s price during the period.
  • This forced the company to take a $1.5 billion non-cash fair value write-down on its digital asset holdings.

What Happened

This report comes only hours after the Bitcoin miner entered a strategic partnership with Barry Sternlicht’s Starwood Capital Group.

The company announced a joint venture with Starwood Digital Ventures to develop hyperscale, enterprise, and AI-capable data centers.

The partnership aims to deliver approximately 1 gigawatt (GW) of near-term IT capacity, with a roadmap exceeding 2.5 GW over time.

MARA can invest up to 50% in the projects, positioning itself for recurring infrastructure revenue and reduced exposure to Bitcoin price swings.

Market Context

MARA’s $1.7 Billion Loss Underscores Bitcoin Volatility — But AI Pivot Signals a New Playbook

MARA’s $1.7 billion Q4 loss came against the backdrop of a roughly 30% decline in Bitcoin’s price during the period. This forced the company to take a $1.5 billion non-cash fair value write-down on its digital asset holdings.

This shows how mark-to-market accounting can amplify volatility for large Bitcoin treasuries. Despite the earnings hit, MARA ended 2025 with 53,822 BTC on its balance sheet, up 20% YoY.

Liquidity remained substantial. MARA reported about $5.3 billion in combined unrestricted cash and Bitcoin holdings, including loaned and pledged assets.

It also raised $568.6 million in 2025 through its at-the-market (ATM) program but suspended usage in Q4, marking the first quarter since 2022 without tapping the facility.

Operationally, the miner continued to expand. Energized hashrate reached a record 66.4 exahash per second (EH/s) in Q4, up 25% from a year earlier. However, this was below its previously stated 75 EH/s target as management emphasized capital discipline.

Why It Matters

MARA Holdings Inc. posted a $1.7 billion net loss in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2025, a sharp reversal from the $528 million profit it recorded a year earlier.

Revenue for the quarter slipped 6% year-over-year (YoY) to $202.3 million, down from $214.4 million in Q4 2024.

Details

Adjusted EBITDA swung dramatically to negative $1.49 billion, compared with positive $796 million in the same period last year.

For the full year, MARA reported a net loss of $1.3 billion, compared with net income of $541 million in 2024.

At a year-end valuation of approximately $87,498 per Bitcoin, those holdings were worth roughly $4.7 billion. Of the total:

38,507 BTC were unrestricted,

9,377 were loaned, and

5,938 were pledged as collateral.

This means about 28% of its Bitcoin stack is encumbered. The company generated $32.1 million in interest income from lending activities during the year.

AI Infrastructure Pivot Reshapes MARA’s Growth Strategy

Bitcoin production totaled 2,011 BTC in the quarter, down 6% YoY, reflecting higher network difficulty and seasonal energy pressures.

Purchased energy cost per Bitcoin rose to $48,611 in Q4, while cost per petahash per day improved 4% to $30.5. It points to efficiency gains from the deployment of newer equipment.

Beyond mining, MARA is accelerating a strategic pivot toward energy and digital infrastructure, particularly AI and high-performance computing (HPC).

The company also highlighted its 64% stake in Exaion and the acquisition of a 42-megawatt data center in Nebraska as part of its AI/HPC expansion strategy.