Marathon to raise $500 million in debt to buy bitcoin and mining machines

Marathon Digital, one of the largest Bitcoin mining firms in the U.S., has said it wants to leverage the debt market to buy bitcoin and mining hardware.

The firm said in a statement on Monday that it intends to raise $500 million through an issuance of senior convertible notes that accrue interest payable semi-annually and will mature on December 1, 2026.

Marathon said it aims to use the net proceeds for purposes including "the acquisition of bitcoin or bitcoin mining machines."

The plan, though currently just a proposal, is the latest debt issuance effort by Bitcoin mining firms in North America that are looking for cash to pay for expenditure and equipment expansion.

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It also comes just a month after Marathon said it obtained a $100 million revolving line of credit from Silvergate Bank secured by its BTC and USD.

Publicly listed North American Bitcoin mining companies, such as Marathon, Riot, Bitfarms, Hut8 and Argo, have all adopted the strategy of "hodling" almost all the bitcoins they mined year-to-date instead of liquidating for capital expenditure.

The Block reported previously that as of Q3, just six large Bitcoin mining firms in North America alone were holding over 20,000 BTC, well worth $1 billion at the time. And they kept adding their October monthly production to the balance.

London-listed Argo, which became public on Nasdaq this year, also announced a proposed public debt offering last week hoping to raise $57 million for the build-out of its Texas facility.

Marathon is currently the largest BTC holder among the North American public Bitcoin mining companies. It said that, as of the end of October, it holds about 7,453 BTC ($490 million), including 4,812 BTC ($317 million) it purchased from the market. The remaining amount all came from its mining operations.

About Author

Wolfie joined The Block’s news team in 2020 and switched to the research side in 2021 to focus on crypto mining analysis. Prior to The Block, he had been a journalist at CoinDesk for three years. Wolfie has a background in financial journalism.