NEW YORK, March 11, 2026, 12:02 EDT
MARA Holdings dropped 3.3% to $8.29 in early Wednesday trading, trailing behind other major U.S.-listed bitcoin miners. Bitcoin dipped 1.3% to around $70,281. The stock stayed weak as a few competitors managed to hold steadier.
Why does it matter right now? Investors aren’t just treating MARA like a pure bitcoin proxy anymore. The company’s 2024 annual report had pledged to keep its bitcoin stash intact, no sales on the horizon. Then, a March 2 filing landed: MARA’s 2026 roadmap now includes the option to sell some of the coins it already holds. That tweaks the calculus for anyone watching MARA’s liquidity story or growth pitch.
That shift in policy isn’t just a footnote, given the scale here. MARA closed out 2025 sitting on 53,822 bitcoin and $5.3 billion in liquid assets. But the fourth quarter saw revenue slip 6% to $202.3 million. Net loss for the period: $1.7 billion, with the average price of bitcoin mined sliding and digital-asset values under pressure.
MARA, meanwhile, is pitching a different angle. On Feb. 26, the company announced a tie-up with Starwood Digital Ventures, saying the deal could bring roughly 1 gigawatt of IT capacity online soon, with expansion potential topping 2.5 GW. The sites, according to MARA, would be able to toggle between bitcoin mining and AI operations as needed. “MARA’s power rich sites give customers what they need most: predictable access to energy at scale,” Chairman and CEO Fred Thiel said. MARA
Analysts aren’t done paring back their calls on the stock. Last week, Brian Dobson at Clear Street lowered his price target to $9, keeping a “mixed” outlook. He now puts the mining side at roughly $2 per share and values the HPC partnership at $7. H.C. Wainwright also dialed back, moving MARA to Neutral from Buy, slicing its 2026 sales estimate on softer bitcoin projections and new risks tied to the company’s business-model pivot. Investing
The split in Wednesday’s trading made things clear. Riot Platforms slipped 0.6%, while Core Scientific gained 3.4% and TeraWulf moved up 2.5%. Investors seemed to favor companies with straightforward data-center or hosting stories, not so much MARA’s mixed narrative.
High-performance computing powers the demanding data-center operations behind AI training and similar compute-heavy work. Crypto miners want in, since their mining sites—with the right power contracts, land, and grid hookups—can sometimes pivot to serve higher-paying customers. Last year, Reuters flagged a growing competition between miners and AI data-center operators vying for much of the same power infrastructure.
Still, two big unknowns hang over the bull thesis: bitcoin itself, and how well the company can execute. Earlier Wednesday, bitcoin slipped under $70,000 as traders braced for U.S. inflation numbers. H.C. Wainwright has pointed out that Starwood’s strategy depends on landing hefty leases—something that’s been slow going, even with demand at a high. If those tenants don’t sign on quickly, MARA could remain closely linked to bitcoin’s price swings, more than management would like.
