Nasdaq-Listed Company Buys $150 million worth of Bitcoin as a part of its Treasury Reserves

Bitcoin is well on the road to becoming a scarce asset as more institutions buy huge amounts of the number one cryptocurrency. The latest to get its hand on more than 4500 Bitcoins is Nevada-based Nasdaq-listed Marathon Patent Group Inc.

According to a recent announcement from the firm, it has recently purchased 4,813 bitcoin for about $150 million as a part of the companys treasury funds. This event marked the first time that the Bitcoin mining firm has purchased Bitcoin from the market.

“By leveraging our cash on hand to invest in bitcoin now, we have transformed our potential to be a pure-play investment into a reality. We also believe that holding part of our treasury reserves in bitcoin will be a better long-term strategy than holding U.S. dollars, similar to other forward-thinking companies like MicroStrategy,” said company CEO Merrick Okamoto.

The prices of Marathon‘s stock went up 892% last year, while its competitor MicroStrategy saw its stock gain 166%, as compared to bitcoin’s gain of about 300% during the year.

Just a few weeks back, Marathon had raised $250 million in an equity round. However, Okamoto noted that these funds remained untouched because the firm already had $425 million in cash before the funding round, and those funds were used to buy the Bitcoin.

The Bitcoin acquisition was completed in association with Crypto financial services firm NYDIG. The purchase was completed on January 21, and the price of Bitcoin was approximately $31,135. NYDIG added that the order was completed “in only a few hours” from idea to execution.

Marathon eyes rapid growth

Marathon Patent Group has been focusing its efforts on expanding its operations. The company recently purchased 100,500 units of S19 Bitcoin miners from mining equipment manufacturer Bitmain for $270 million.

“These units will be shipped beginning this week. When fully deployed and installed, the companys total hashrate capability will exceed 10.34 exahash [from the current about 256 petahash], which we believe could make Marathon the largest bitcoin miner in the world,” Okamoto added.

With the addition of the new hardware, Marathon would now be able to mind approximately 55-60 bitcoin per day, Okamoto noted.

Meanwhile, the company also partnered with Beowulf Energy to get cheap electricity for its bitcoin mining facilities. As a result, the firm notes that it is “uniquely positioned for long-term success.”

Okamoto continued that “Most bitcoin miners use a hosting model for their operations. […] The typical cost for this hosting arrangement is in the $0.05 to $0.06 Per kWh range.” However, the joint venture with Beowulf lowers Marathons cost to $0.028 per kWh, and also reduces the cost to mine one Bitcoin from $7,700 to approximately $4,400.