TLDR
- MARA Holdings completed its acquisition of a 64% stake in French data center firm Exaion
- The deal was first agreed in August 2025 with EDF Pulse Ventures for around $168 million in cash
- NJJ Capital, backed by billionaire Xavier Niel, will take a 10% stake in MARA France as part of a strategic partnership
- Bitcoin mining difficulty jumped 15% to 144.4 trillion, adding more margin pressure on miners
- MARA is scheduled to release quarterly earnings next week; it posted a record $123 million profit last quarter
MARA Holdings has closed its acquisition of a 64% stake in Exaion, a French firm that builds and operates data centers, cloud services, and AI infrastructure.
Marathon Digital Holdings, Inc., MARA
The deal, originally agreed in August 2025 with EDF Pulse Ventures, received final regulatory approval after French government screening over potential sovereignty concerns. Bloomberg previously reported MARA paid roughly $168 million in cash to secure the majority stake.
EDF, which supplies energy to around 41 million customers and posted consolidated sales of €113.3 billion in 2025, remains a minority shareholder and continues as an Exaion customer.
As part of the deal, NJJ Capital — the investment vehicle of telecom entrepreneur Xavier Niel — will acquire a 10% stake in MARA France. Both Niel and MARA CEO Fred Thiel will sit on Exaion’s board.
The board will include three representatives from MARA, three from EDF Pulse Ventures, one from NJJ, plus Exaion’s CEO and co-founder.
The three parties stated the goal is to “accelerate Exaion’s expansion, strengthen its capabilities in secure cloud services and high-performance computing, and enable Exaion to emerge as a European leader in digital infrastructure.”
Bitcoin Miners Pivot to AI
MARA’s move is part of a wider trend. After the 2024 halving cut block rewards and rising network difficulty squeezed margins, several publicly traded miners began pursuing a hybrid model — keeping mining operations running while building revenue from AI cloud and high-performance computing services.
HIVE Digital Technologies, CoreWeave, TeraWulf, Hut 8, and IREN are among those repurposing mining facilities and energy capacity for AI workloads.
In November, CleanSpark announced plans to raise up to $1.28 billion through a senior convertible note offering to fund expansion across Bitcoin mining and data center operations.
Mining Difficulty Rises Sharply
Bitcoin’s mining difficulty rose about 15% to 144.4 trillion on Friday. That reversed an 11% drop earlier this month — the steepest decline since China’s 2021 mining ban — which had been triggered by severe winter storms across the US that disrupted power grids and forced many miners offline.
The higher difficulty increases the computing effort required to mine new blocks, adding further cost pressure on operators.
MARA’s stock is down around 17% year-to-date and fell roughly 40% last year.
The company is due to report quarterly earnings next week. Last quarter, it posted a record $123 million profit, driven by its Bitcoin operations combined with new power and AI assets.
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