On August 6 crypto miners MARA and CleanSpark reported steep quarterly losses as falling Bitcoin prices drove large mark-to-market hits: MARA posted a Q2 net loss of $611.3M on $174.9M revenue (down 27%) with roughly $343M tied to BTC markdowns, while CleanSpark reported a $239.8M loss on $138M revenue (down 30.5%), negative adjusted EBITDA of $113M and >$116M fair-value Bitcoin losses; combined net losses totaled $851.1M with about $459M in BTC markdowns. Both stocks slid and the sector is pivoting to AI and data center leasing for cash flow—CleanSpark signed a 20-year $6.6B lease, rivals have multi-billion AI deals and MARA holds 19 data centers and 2 GW rights—but it remains uncertain whether AI leases can offset shrinking mining economics, creating a negative near-term outlook for miner equities and crypto investor returns.

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In Brief

MARA and CleanSpark posted steep losses as falling Bitcoin prices dragged results.
MARA reported a net loss of $611 million while CleanSpark saw $239.8 million in losses.
Miners lean on multibillion-dollar AI lease deals to offset weak Bitcoin economics.

MARA Holdings (MARA) and CleanSpark (CLSK) reported heavy losses on August 6, extending a slump across public Bitcoin (BTC) miners as falling prices triggered large non-cash valuation losses.

Both firms leaned on their pivot toward artificial intelligence and data center infrastructure, joining rivals TeraWulf, Core Scientific, and Cipher in betting that compute capacity can offset shrinking returns from Bitcoin production.

MARA Holdings and CleanSpark Report Quarterly Losses

MARA Holdings posted a second-quarter net loss of $611.3 million, or $1.60 per share. That reversed an $808.2 million profit a year earlier.

Revenue fell 27% to $174.9 million, missing forecasts. The company tied roughly $343 million of the loss to mark-to-market declines on its Bitcoin holdings.

CleanSpark reported fiscal third-quarter revenue of $138 million, down 30.5% year-over-year. Its net loss reached $239.8 million, against a profit last year.

Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) swung to negative $113 million. A fair-value loss on Bitcoin of over $116 million added to the decline.

Combined, MARA and CleanSpark booked $851.1 million in net losses for the quarter, with Bitcoin fair-value markdowns accounting for roughly $459 million of that.

The results mirror an earlier quarterly loss at both miners. Rival Hut 8 followed the same pattern days before.

Meanwhile, both stocks fell during Thursday’s regular session. MARA was down 5.25% to $10.65, and CleanSpark dipped 5.56% to $12.75, according to Google Finance.

The miners released results after the close. In after-hours trading, MARA edged up 0.38% to $10.69, and CleanSpark climbed 2.75% to $13.10.

AI Infrastructure Deals Anchor the Pivot

The losses have not slowed the sector’s race into AI. CleanSpark signed a 20-year lease valued at $6.6 billion at Sandersville. The deal includes a high-investment-grade tenant and adds long-term cash flow.

MARA framed mining and AI as two uses of the same resource. The company runs 19 data centers and holds rights to a 2-gigawatt (GW) site in Texas.

“Ultimately, we do not view Bitcoin mining and AI infrastructure as competing businesses. They are complementary applications of the same underlying asset: power,” MARA Chairman and CEO, Fred Thiel said.

Other miners have also leaned into leasing. TeraWulf’s (WULF) high-performance computing (HPC) rentals made up 71% of its $44.8 million in revenue. Its 20-year Anthropic lease represents about $19 billion in contracted revenue.

Core Scientific (CORZ) posted a $1.155 billion loss on $164.2 million in revenue. It unveiled an AMD deal covering up to 2.5 GW of capacity.

Most of the revenue lands years out. Whether AI leasing can cover shrinking mining returns will define the coming quarters.

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