The second largest public holder of Bitcoin, crypto mining company Marathon Digital Holdings has released some Bitcoin for the first time in two years.
A spokesperson told Cointelegraph that this is not the result of financial distress.
As per the January update posted on February 2, the company announced that it sold 1,500 BTC, worth $35.3 million at current prices, during the month.
While some crypto miners have been forced to sell Bitcoin due to the dire situation, Marathon’s VP of corporate communications Charlie Schumacher explained that this is not the case for Marathon.
Schumacher said that Marathon has offered Bitcoin so far because the company does not want to sell when production is down, and has been confident about the long-term prospects of the leading cryptocurrency.
But coming into the new year, Marathon wants to have a “war-chest” of liquidity consisting of both cash and Bitcoin and is looking to continue paying down debt and increasing its cash position.
Schumacher also noted that the recent Bitcoin uptick in price contributed to the decision to sell some holdings.
January saw Bitcoin rise above the $24,000 price level for the first time since August 2022.
Even after the sale, Marathon managed to increase the holding of unrestricted Bitcoin in the month to 8,090 BTC ($ 189.8 million).
Marathon said it has also significantly ramped up the production of Bitcoin throughout January, producing 687 BTC which represents an increase of 45% compared to the previous month. In an update, Marathon chairman and CEO Fred Thiel noted:
“The increase in our bitcoin production is primarily due to our team’s ability to work with a new hosting provider in McCamey, Texas, to resolve maintenance and technical issues at our King Mountain data center that reduced our bitcoin production in the fourth quarter of 2022.”
Last year, Marathon recorded in May. 4 updated that the last time to sell any Bitcoin was October 21, 2020, and it has stopped since then.
When asked how he managed to avoid selling the main products of the business operations, Schumacher pointed to the low number of employees, including “32 people now,” and suggested that it was the result of a long-term financial strategy.
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Marathon is the second largest shareholder in Bitcoin according to CoinGecko, beaten only by the software analytics company Microstrategy, and has recorded an increase in its share price since the beginning of 2023, rising to $8 with a percentage gain of 135% according to it. to MarketWatch.