How Marathon Digital Became the Second Largest BTC Holder Amid Bear Market?

Key Insights

• Marathon Digital becomes the second largest BTC holder with 11,300 BTC
• The company attained its greatest feat in October when the BTC holding added another 615 in October
• Marathon Digital says it won’t sell its BTC holding to pay bills 

In 2022, approximately 13 years after Satoshi Nakamoto mined the first BTC, the total supply and holdings have increased exponentially. 

Furthermore, of all the wallet addresses holding BTC, only five contain between 100,000 to 1,000,000,000 BTC. Also, only 92 owners have between 10,000 to 100,000 in their holdings. 

Industry players call these 97 BTC addresses  the “wealthiest addresses” or “biggest listed BTC holders.” They hold 14.15% of the total BTC in circulation.  One of the top 5 biggest listed BTC holders is Marathon Digital. 

Marathon Digital’s Bitcoin Stash

Reportedly, the CEO of Marathon Digital said it now holds the second-biggest BTC in the world.  This was contained in the third-quarter earning report of Marathon Digital. 

The CEO, Fred Thiel, revealed that the company holds 11,300 BTC, worth about $205 million. He said, “making Marathon the second largest holder of Bitcoin among publicly traded companies worldwide.” 

The report shows that Marathon Digital comes after Microstrategy, which holds about 130,000 BTC. Coinbase, a crypto exchange, and Block. Inc, owned by Jack Dorsey, comes third and fourth, respectively. 

Furthermore, the report shows that Marathon Digital added 615 BTC to its holding. The company said it added another 615 BTC to its holdings in October. This feat made October the most productive month in Marathon Digital’s history. 

In a tweet by Fred Thiel, he said, “we have sequentially improved our Bitcoin production from 72 in July to 184 in August. We increased it to 360 in September and then to a record 615 in October.”   

Similarly, Fred Thiel said, “The consistent improvement in our Bitcoin production is the direct result of increasing our hash rates— we were able to bring more Bitcoin servers online and improve those servers.” 

Interestingly, Marathon CEO confirmed that since they started holding BTC, the company has not sold any of it. He said, “we will continue to take that position unless deemed necessary to cover operating or other expenses.” 

You would recall that some major miners holding large BTC were reported selling their coins to pay bills. Some include Argo, Bitfarms, Core Scientific, and Riot Blockchain. 

Conclusion

Several companies engage in large-scale BTC mining and hold them. While some sell their holdings to “weather the storm,” some have promised not to sell. An example is Marathon Digital. 

Similarly, only Satoshi Nakamoto is reported to have mined 22,000 blocks in January 2009—with a cumulative block reward of about 1 million BTC valued at $23billion. No individual or company has that amount in a single wallet.