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MARA Holdings
American patent holding company From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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MARA Holdings, Inc. is an American digital asset technology company, which engages in mining cryptocurrencies, with a focus on the blockchain ecosystem and the generation of digital assets. The company was founded on February 23, 2010 and is headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.[2] The company was formerly known as Marathon Patent Group and was the patent holding company that is the parent of Uniloc, allegedly a patent troll company.[3][4] Marathon purchased patents related to encryption in the 2010s[5] and in 2021 it was known for its purchases of bitcoin[6] and bitcoin mining equipment[7] and a joint venture to use 37 MW from the Hardin Generating Station Montana coal plant to power an adjacently-constructed Marathon bitcoin data center.[8]
The company changed its name to Marathon Digital Holdings, effective March 1, 2021. It subsequently changed its name to MARA Holdings on August 29, 2024.[9]
MARA is considered one of the world's largest bitcoin and kaspa miners.[10] It is also the second largest corporate holder of bitcoin, owning 50,639 BTC as of August 2025[11], behind Strategy.[12]
Its chief executive officer is Fred Thiel. Leena Jaitley, founder of MTN group is one of the largest shareholders.[13]
In December 2023, Marathon Digital acquired two currently operational Bitcoin mining sites from subsidiaries of Generate Capital for $178.6 million.[14]
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Controversy
- The "Patent Troll" Reputation: As Marathon Patent Group, the company gained a reputation as a "patent troll" due to its business model of acquiring patents with the sole purpose of suing other companies for infringement. Its subsidiary, Uniloc, was a prominent non-practicing entity that filed numerous lawsuits against well-known tech firms, leading to public criticism and a negative reputation.[15]
- Lawsuit for Breaching Non-Circumvention Agreement: In July 2024, a federal jury in California unanimously found Marathon liable for $138 million for breaching a non-circumvention agreement with an investor named Michael Ho. The lawsuit alleged that in 2020, Ho provided Marathon with proprietary information and a growth strategy for a large-scale Bitcoin mining facility, including a connection to a specific energy supplier. The agreement stipulated that Marathon would not deal directly with the supplier without compensating Ho. The jury found that Marathon circumvented Ho and executed the strategy without compensation. Marathon stated that it respects the verdict but believes the jury's conclusion was incorrect and that the damages awarded have "no legal basis."[16][17]
- Hardin, Montana Subpoena and Securities Lawsuits: The Hardin, Montana joint venture became the subject of intense scrutiny. In November 2021, Marathon disclosed that it had received a subpoena from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to produce documents and communications concerning the Hardin data center. The SEC was investigating whether there had been any violations of federal securities laws related to the issuance of 6 million shares of stock in the deal. The company also faced multiple class-action lawsuits filed by investors who alleged that Marathon had made materially false and misleading statements about the venture and its associated regulatory risks. While the lawsuits were voluntarily dismissed in October 2022, the event resulted in a significant drop in the company's stock price.[18]
- OFAC-Compliant Mining Pool: In May 2021, Marathon sparked widespread controversy within the cryptocurrency community by announcing that it would operate a "fully compliant" mining pool. The company stated that the pool would use software to filter out transactions from sanctioned entities on the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) list. This decision was met with immediate backlash from Bitcoin advocates and community members who criticized the move as a form of censorship that undermined the core, permissionless, and censorship-resistant principles of the Bitcoin network. Following the public outcry, Marathon reversed its decision in late May 2021, announcing it would no longer filter transactions.[19][20]
- Environmental and Community Complaints: In July 2024, Time magazine published an investigation into numerous noise and health complaints by residents of Granbury, Texas, many of whom attributed their ailments to a nearby Bitcoin mining facility owned and operated by Marathon Digital.[21]
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See also
References
External links
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