The American miner has initiated staff cuts across multiple departments after selling 15,133 bitcoin to reduce convertible debt.
MARA Holdings has launched a series of layoffs affecting multiple corporate departments, as reported by Blockspace Media. According to internal sources, the layoffs were carried out in stages, with at least two rounds occurring within the same week, between Wednesday and Thursday. The total number of employees affected and the percentage of the workforce involved have not been disclosed, and the company has not issued any public comment.
The workforce reduction comes just days after the completion of a major balance sheet rebalancing operation: between March 4 and March 25, MARA sold 15,133 bitcoin for approximately $1.1 billion. The proceeds were used to repurchase portions of its zero-coupon convertible senior notes due in 2030 and 2031, at an average discount of approximately 9% to face value.
In detail, MARA repurchased $367.5 million of its 2030 notes for $322.9 million and $633.4 million of its 2031 notes for $589.9 million. The transactions will generate approximately $88.1 million in cash savings and will reduce total convertible debt by approximately 30%, bringing it down from roughly $3.3 billion to $2.3 billion. Following the repurchases, $632.5 million of the 2030 notes and $291.6 million of the 2031 notes remain outstanding. Other debt tranches — including $48.1 million due in 2026, $300 million due in 2031, and $1.025 billion due in 2032 — remain unchanged.
CEO Fred Thiel had already framed the bitcoin sale as part of a deliberate capital allocation strategy aimed at strengthening the balance sheet and preserving long-term shareholder value. According to Thiel, the transaction will improve financial flexibility and position the company for expansion beyond traditional mining. MARA also stated that it plans to sell bitcoin “from time to time” throughout 2026 to support liquidity and fund corporate initiatives.
MARA’s strategic expansion is increasingly and decisively focused on artificial intelligence, an area in which the company intends to leverage its expertise in energy infrastructure and data centers. The company is progressively repositioning itself as a provider of digital energy and computing capacity, gradually moving away from its identity as a pure bitcoin miner.
