Public companies offload 108,247 Bitcoin worth $8.08B in 2026, MARA leads

Fourteen publicly listed companies have sold a combined 108,247 Bitcoin worth roughly $8.08 billion in 2026, according to blockchain analytics firm Lookonchain, with the tally running through November 10. MARA Holdings and Riot Platforms did most of the heavy lifting, together accounting for about 56% of everything sold in the analysis. MARA offloaded 40,581 BTC worth $3.03 billion, while Riot moved 20,264 BTC valued at $1.51 billion. Lookonchain put MARA's average sale price at $74,446 and Riot's at $73,231.

Bitdeer Technologies came third with 10,553 BTC worth $787 million. Cango followed with 7,001 BTC at $522 million, CleanSpark with 5,715 BTC at $426 million and Core Scientific with 3,374 BTC at $252 million. Empery Digital sold 3,170 BTC and Keel, the company formerly known as Bitfarms, sold 3,169 BTC, with Hut 8 Mining at 3,102 BTC and HIVE Digital at 3,056 BTC. IREN, Cipher Digital, Sequans and KULR filled out the list, with sales ranging from 1,097 BTC to 2,774 BTC. The selling spree lands in a year when miners are pouring cash into AI and data center buildouts: an August analysis by BlocksBridge Consulting found nine public miners spent $5.11 billion on capital assets in the first half of 2026, against $341.2 million in reported AI and high-performance computing revenue.

MARA laid out its own numbers in a third-quarter shareholder letter published November 9. The company sold about 26,984 BTC for $1.9 billion across the first nine months of 2026, then sold another 13,597 BTC after September ended at an average price of roughly $81,039, pulling in $1.1 billion. It used $750 million of that to repay Bitcoin-backed loans, which freed 17,477 BTC that had been pledged as collateral. MARA had borrowed against its coins to help fund the planned purchase of Long Ridge, a natural gas power business tied to its energy and data center push, and has cut total debt by $1.4 billion, or 37%, since the start of 2026. Sales of freshly mined coins were allowed starting in 2025, and this year the policy expanded to Bitcoin held on the balance sheet; MARA says it will keep monetizing coins to fund AI infrastructure, possible share repurchases and upcoming debt obligations.

Riot took a similar route, selling 20,264 BTC in the first nine months of 2026 for about $1.5 billion, mainly to bankroll data center development. It closed September with 2,418 BTC worth roughly $202 million and $748.2 million in cash, including restricted funds. The buildout includes a $9.1 billion data center agreement covering 191 megawatts at its Rockdale facility in Texas and a separate 15-year lease for 910 megawatts at Corsicana. Riot says those contracted agreements carry about $38 billion in expected revenue over their initial terms.

Keel Infrastructure shows where some of that power is going. The former Bitfarms shut down its US Bitcoin mining operations in June and pointed its American power portfolio at AI and high-performance computing instead. It reported selling 1,085 BTC for $75 million by August, while second-quarter revenue dropped 50% from a year earlier to $30.4 million.