Marathon Invests $150 Million in Bitcoin

Investment Establishes Marathon as One of the Only Pure-Play, Bitcoin Investment Options

LAS VEGAS, Jan. 25, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Marathon Patent Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:MARA) ("Marathon" or "Company"), one of the largest enterprise Bitcoin self-mining companies in North America, today announced that it has purchased 4,812.66 BTC in an aggregate purchase price of $150 million. As a result, the Company has strengthened its position as one of the only Nasdaq-listed, pure-play investment options for individuals and institutions seeking exposure to Bitcoin.

To ensure the purchase was conducted effectively, Marathon worked with NYDIG, a leading technology and financial services firm dedicated to Bitcoin. NYDIG’s trading, execution, and asset management expertise enabled Marathon to take advantage of favorable market conditions and execute the transaction as efficiently as possible.

“By purchasing $150 million worth of Bitcoin, we have accelerated the process of building Marathon into what we believe to be the de facto investment choice for individuals and institutions who are seeking exposure to this new asset class. We also believe that holding part of our Treasury reserves in Bitcoin will be a better long-term strategy than holding US Dollars, similar to other forward-thinking companies like MicroStrategy,” said Merrick Okamoto, Marathon’s chairman & CEO. “To date, we have contracted to purchase 103,060 miners, all of which are currently expected to be delivered and fully deployed by the end of the first quarter of fiscal 2022. If all miners were operational today, based on the Bitcoin network’s current difficulty rate, we would produce approximately 55-60 bitcoins per day. However, 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. I would like to thank the entire NYDIG team for offering their unique products and services for public companies, and for working with us to expedite this process and ensure the transaction was made on the best possible terms for our business and our shareholders.”

Robby Gutmann, co-founder and CEO of NYDIG, commented, “We deeply admire Marathon’s commitment to the Bitcoin ecosystem, and we are very pleased to add them to the list of companies who utilize NYDIG as the institutional choice for Corporate Treasury Solutions. NYDIG is uniquely positioned to help corporations navigate the challenges they face around executing and structuring the holding of large Bitcoin positions, and our ability to deliver Marathon a tailored and custom solution, with a quick turnaround, and no market impact, is why corporations and insurance companies choose NYDIG.”