What if I told you there's a way to amplify Bitcoin's (BTC 0.72%) gains while actually owning a real business with assets, revenue, and (gasp!) financial statements you can analyze?
I'm not joking; this alternative on-ramp to the Bitcoin world is real.
While everyone's obsessing over Bitcoin's price reaching $125,000, savvy investors might want to look at Mara Holdings (NASDAQ: MARAa) instead. This isn't about being anti-Bitcoin -- it's about seeking stronger rewards with a modest cushion against the risks. Because sometimes the best way to ride a wave on Wall Street isn't to jump in the East River, but to own the ferry company.
NASDAQ: MARA
Key Data Points
Mara Holdings is more than just a Bitcoin miner nowadays
You may know Mara Holdings as Marathon Digital Holdings -- the laser-focused Bitcoin mining company of yesteryear. The new name distanced this company from other businesses with "Marathon" in their names, especially the massive energy company Marathon Petroleum. That particular namesake was especially troublesome, since Mara sought to split its business between crypto mining, data center operations, and energy production.
"We are more than a bitcoin treasury company," Mara said in July's second-quarter 2025 report. The company made heavy investments in data center infrastructure and energy generation equipment in 2024, opening the door to a brand-new business plan.
With vertical integration of the power production and (extremely power-hungry) Bitcoin mining operations, Mara is cutting costs and controlling its mining business with fine-grained precision. Mara has invested more money in its mining infrastructure than large-scale peers Riot Platforms and Cleanspark. Moreover, the company is exploring international expansion, hoping to collect about half of its revenues from overseas by 2028.
So far, the lion's share of Mara's revenue comes from Bitcoin mining. The company also resells surplus energy when that makes sense, as in the Texas heatwaves in the summer of 2024. Going forward, Mara invites enterprise-class computing giants to run artificial intelligence (AI) workloads in its power-efficient data centers.
But don't forget that Mara remains a committed Bitcoin miner. With more than 52,850 Bitcoins on its balance sheet, the digital currency cache is worth $6.59 billion at the $124,600 Bitcoin price of Oct. 6. That's 86% of the company's total market value. And Mara keeps buying more Bitcoin mining equipment, boosting its computing power by 82% over the last year.
CRYPTO: BTC
Key Data Points
The original crypto is still the king of the hill
In the opposite corner, Bitcoin is simply Bitcoin.
It's the oldest and most valuable digital currency on the planet, with a current market value of $2.48 trillion. It was designed to hold and transfer monetary value in a completely independent and secure transaction ledger. Only 21 million Bitcoins will ever exist, and 94.9% of them are already in circulation.
Now, things can change at the drop of a digital hat in the volatile crypto market. But Bitcoin has remained the market leader and should hold on to that throne for years to come. There are plenty of Bitcoin bears out there, arguing that the world doesn't need a digital dollar or encrypted gold replacement, or that some other asset could play Bitcoin's role better.
So far, I think the bears are wrong, and Bitcoin-related assets are a reasonable addition to diversified long-term portfolios. For instance, about 7% of my portfolio is invested in Bitcoin or closely related stocks, including a small Mara position.
Image source: Getty Images.
Should you actually forget Bitcoin for Mara, then?
My personal holdings play on both sides of the fence, but the Mara slice is a very small portion of my Bitcoin exposure. I think that's the right way to approach this stock today.
Yes, Mara's diversification efforts should make the company more stable in the long haul while its leading crypto-mining investments should boost its shareholder gains over the plain Bitcoin chart. At the same time, Mara is early in its diversifying moves, and the project could grind to a halt in the next crypto winter.
So I'm not saying you should forget Bitcoin and reinvest your digital assets in Mara shares, but I am saying that the stock could be a healthy addition to a broader crypto portfolio. Patience is a virtue, particularly on Wall Street.
