Marathon posts $1.3B Q1 loss, sells $1.5B for AI shift

Marathon Holdings reported a $1.3 billion net loss for the first quarter of 2026 after an 18% decline in the average price of bitcoin. The company sold roughly $1.5 billion of its bitcoin holdings to repay debt and support a shift into AI infrastructure and data centers, according to a shareholder letter released May 11.

Revenue for the quarter fell to $174.6 million from $213.9 million a year earlier. Marathon attributed $33.1 million of the $39.3 million decline to the 18% drop in bitcoin’s average price, $2.5 million to lower bitcoin production and $3.7 million to other revenue decreases.

Marathon’s hashrate rose 33% year over year to 72.2 exahashes per second, up from 54.3 EH/s. Despite higher mining capacity, operating costs and noncash items widened the loss. Net loss increased by $729.0 million from Q1 2025. The company reported a $520.4 million rise in operating loss, driven primarily by unfavorable bitcoin mark-to-market adjustments of about $1.0 billion and restructuring costs of $45.9 million during the quarter.

To reduce leverage, Marathon sold approximately $1.5 billion of bitcoin. The shareholder letter explained that those proceeds were used to repurchase, at a discount, over $1 billion of the face value of its 2030 and 2031 notes and to cut its line of credit by $200 million. Marathon also refinanced $150 million of its credit line at a 7% interest rate, down from 10.5%.

At the end of the quarter Marathon held 35,303 bitcoin, including 9,995 that were loaned or pledged as collateral, and mined 2,247 BTC during the period. Using a spot price of $68,222 per bitcoin, the company valued its holdings at about $2.4 billion.

The shareholder letter described the asset sales and debt repurchases as steps to lower potential dilution from outstanding convertible debt and to free capital for data-center projects aimed at supporting artificial intelligence workloads. Marathon cited higher energy and operating costs, stronger mining competition and the post-halving market environment as factors affecting revenue and margins.

The company’s results combined market-driven valuation changes, restructuring charges and financial actions taken to adjust its balance sheet while allocating cash toward AI-supporting infrastructure.