Bitcoin Miner MARA Starts Massive $2B Stock Sale Plan to Buy More BTC

What to know:

Bitcoin mining company MARA Holdings (MARA) is launching a fresh $2 billion stock offering to buy more bitcoin, continuing its plan of buying BTC in the open market through capital raise while sticking to its  "Hodl" strategy .

According to a  Form 8-K and a  new prospectus  filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), MARA entered into an at-the-market (ATM) equity program with a group of investment banks including Barclays, BMO Capital Markets, BTIG, Cantor Fitzgerald, and others. The proceeds of the offering, which will see brokers selling shares of the miner from time to time, will be used mainly for the acquisition of bitcoin in the open market.

"We currently intend to use the net proceeds from this offering for general corporate purposes, including the acquisition of bitcoin and for working capital," MARA said in its prospectus.

This new fresh stock sales plan follows a  previous ATM offering  that targeted up to $1.5 billion for the miner.

MARA has adopted Michael Saylor's strategy of raising funds through equity and  convertible bond offerings and buying bitcoin in the open market. The miner now holds  46,376 BTC  in its treasury, making it the second-largest bitcoin stash among publicly traded companies, behind Strategy’s 506,137 BTC.

The plan to buy bitcoin in the open market was adopted by the miner last year, even though a miner can theoretically mine bitcoin at a discount to the spot price. The industry became challenging after last year's halving cut mining rewards by half, squeezing profit margins on the back of rising costs. This made buying bitcoin in the open market, alongside mining, a relatively better strategy for the miners.