Cryptocurrency mining company Marathon Digital Holdings has sold some of its Bitcoin (BTC) holdings for the first time in the past two years, making it the second-largest publicly traded Bitcoin holder.

The firm reported in an update published on February 2 that for the entire month of January it had sold 1,500 BTC, which is equivalent to $35.3 million at current prices.

Charlie Schumacher, Marathon’s vice president of corporate communications, said that even though some crypto miners have been forced to sell Bitcoin due to current market conditions, this is not the case for Marathon.

Schumacher said that Marathon had been running his Bitcoin up to this point because the company did not want to sell while production was down. Marathon has been positive on the long-term prospects of the leading cryptocurrency.

However, Marathon plans to start the new year with a “war chest” of liquidity that will be made up of both cash and Bitcoin. In addition, the company intends to continue paying down its debt and increasing its cash balances.

In addition, Schumacher said that the recent increase in the price of bitcoin was a factor that led to the decision to sell part of its assets.

The Bitcoin price crossed the $24,000 threshold for the first time since August, when it did so in January.

Even after the transaction, Marathon was able to bring his total unrestricted Bitcoin holdings to 8,090 BTC for the month, which equates to $189.8 million.

Marathon said that it increased Bitcoin production considerably during the month of January, creating 687 BTC. This figure indicates a 45% increase in production compared to the amount produced during the previous month. Marathon President and CEO Fred Thiel stated in the latest update: “The improvement in our bitcoin production was primarily the result of our team’s ability to work in conjunction with the new hosting provider in McCamey, Texas, to address maintenance and technical issues at the King Mountain data center that suppressed our bitcoin production in Q4 2022.” This information was provided in an update on May 4 of the previous year. Marathon had stated that the last time he sold Bitcoin was in

Asked how he was able to avoid selling the core product of his business operations, Schumacher referred to the company’s minimal staff, which consisted of “32 people to date,” and argued that it was the result of a strong financial relationship with long term. plans

According to CoinGecko, Marathon is the second largest publicly traded holder of Bitcoin. Software analytics business MicroStrategy is the largest publicly traded holder of Bitcoin. According to MarketWatch, the company’s shares are up 135% so far this year to a price of $8, which is a huge increase in the share price that it has been reporting in recent days.