Bitcoin’s Second-Largest Corporate Holder Just Changed the Rules: Is MicroStrategy Next?
MARA Holdings has formally rewritten its Bitcoin playbook, increasing its treasury coverage to allow gross sales of Bitcoin held immediately on its steadiness sheet.
It raises questions on whether or not Strategy (MicroStrategy) could possibly be subsequent, seeing as MARA is simply second to Michael Saylor’s agency amongst public firms holding BTC.
MARA Opens Door to Selling 53,822 BTC Stockpile in Treasury Pivot After $1.7 Billion Loss
The transfer, detailed in its annual 10-Ok filing submitted to the US SEC on March 2, 2026, marks the first time MARA has explicitly licensed liquidation of its amassed treasury stockpile.
“In the second half of 2025, we modified our digital asset administration technique to allow gross sales of bitcoin generated from operations, and in 2026, we expanded the technique to permit for gross sales of bitcoin held on our steadiness sheet. Accordingly, we might maintain bitcoin for long-term funding functions and may additionally purchase or promote bitcoin every now and then, topic to market situations and our capital allocation priorities,” learn an excerpt in the submitting.
It marks a pointy departure from its prior “full HODL” stance, with the authorized framework for liquidating the firm’s whole reserve now in impact. Notably, no quick gross sales have been introduced.
As of this writing, MARA holds 53,822 BTC, price $3.59 billion at current rates of $66,565 per BTC. This makes it the second-largest publicly listed company Bitcoin holder, trailing solely Strategy, which holds 720,737 BTC as of this writing.
Roughly 72% of MARA’s holdings (38,507 BTC) stay in unrestricted long-term treasury. The remaining 28%, or about 15,315 BTC, has already been “activated” beneath its digital asset administration program.
Of that, 9,377 BTC are loaned out, producing $32.1 million in curiosity earnings in 2025, whereas 5,938 BTC are pledged as collateral for a $350 million credit score facility.
Combined with $547 million in money, MARA controls roughly $5.3 billion in liquid property.
The extra quick concern, nonetheless, is that over 53,000 BTC represents a possible provide overhang in an already fragile market environment. This is especially regarding if miner stress intensifies.
From Ideological HODL to Active Management
The shift caps a gradual change, following MARA’s 2024 10-Ok, which described a strict coverage of retaining all mined and bought Bitcoin “for the foreseeable future.”
In the second half of 2025, the firm started selling newly mined BTC to fund operations, offloading 4,076 BTC for $413.1 million in proceeds.
The 2026 enlargement now extends that flexibility to the whole balance-sheet reserve. This coverage change follows a turbulent fourth quarter.
MARA reported a $1.7 billion net loss in Q4 2025, largely pushed by non-cash fair-value changes following Bitcoin’s roughly 30% decline in late 2025. The firm additionally recorded $422.2 million in fair-value decreases and impairment losses tied to its digital property.
Notably, MARA lately entered a three way partnership with Starwood Capital to develop AI and high-performance computing information facilities, repurposing its power infrastructure.
Monetizing Bitcoin might fund that “energy-to-AI” transition with out additional diluting shareholders by means of fairness issuance.
Could Strategy Be Next?
Unlike MARA, Strategy continues to explain Bitcoin as its “main treasury reserve asset” and has lately added to its holdings.
The agency’s executives spotlight sales only in extreme liquidity scenarios, not as an opportunistic capital allocation instrument.
“We won’t be promoting. Instead, I imagine we might be shopping for Bitcoin each quarter perpetually,” Michael Saylor stated in a latest interview.
At Bitcoin’s present value, there may be short-term stress on Strategy, primarily because of unrealized losses on its huge Bitcoin treasury.
MARA’s pivot seems miner-specific relatively than industry-wide. Still, the symbolism is critical. Corporate Bitcoin treasuries had been as soon as seen as permanent supply sinks.
MARA’s 10-Ok alerts a maturing method, one the place Bitcoin is not only conviction capital, however a dynamic balance-sheet instrument.
Notwithstanding, markets will now be watching future 8-Ok and quarterly filings, in addition to on-chain flows, for the first actual take a look at of that flexibility.
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The publish Bitcoin’s Second-Largest Corporate Holder Just Changed the Rules: Is MicroStrategy Next? appeared first on BeInCrypto.