By Will Feuer


Marathon Digital Holdings said it has agreed to buy two Bitcoin-mining sites for $178.6 million, a deal that follows a swift rally in the price of Bitcoin over the past few months.

Marathon said it will pay cash for the sites, which will be its first fully owned sites and reflects Marathon's shift away from an asset-light focus to a more vertically integrated Bitcoin-mining operation. Once the deal closes, 45% of Marathon's Bitcoin-mining capacity will be on sites directly owned by the company.

The sites, owned by Generate Capital, are in Granbury, Texas and Kearney, Nebraska. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter.

Marathon Chief Executive Fred Thiel said the deal will increase the size of the company's Bitcoin-mining capacity by 56%.


Write to Will Feuer at Will.Feuer@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

12-19-23 0832ET