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MARA rises after soundly beating earnings expectations

bitcoin miner MARA Holdings, the second-largest corporate bitcoin holder, with 50,000 bitcoin, reported second-quarter earnings that beat analysts’ estimates.

The stock popped 4% in after-hours trading.

The company reported revenue of $238.5 million, a 64% increase from the previous quarter and above the consensus estimate of $227.9 million, according to FactSet.

For the second quarter, MARA reported surprisingly positive earnings per share of $1.84, while analysts had expected a loss of $0.07 per share.

Yesterday, MARA announced that it had completed a $950 million offering of 0.00% convertible senior notes due in 2032, partly to acquire additional bitcoin.  

JPMorgan analysts upgraded MARA yesterday to “overweight” from “neutral,” saying that it has “the most valuable mining operation (~$2.5bn), primarily owed to their industry-leading scale (targeting 75 EH/s by YE25).”

“As we continue to scale and diversify our business, we believe that MARA’s value extends well beyond any single aspect of our business,” CEO Fred Thiel said in the shareholder letter. “Our vertically integrated mining operations, large BTC treasury, budding international energy partnerships, and early AI infrastructure investments each contribute distinct and measurable value. When viewed through a sum-of-the-parts lens, we believe the market has not fully recognized the intrinsic worth and long-term potential of our business.”

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$1.2B

XRP ETFs have now crossed $1 billion in assets since the funds launched, according to SoSoValue, which shows total assets of $1.18 billion.

In September, the SEC approved generic listing standards, which paved the way for speedier listings and opened the floodgates for these products, and shortly after, Rex-Osprey launched the first spot XRP ETF available in the US.

Canary followed suit in November, launching an ETF trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker XRPC, which saw a record $58.5 million in trading volume on its first day. It’s the largest XRP ETF in the US, with $342 million in assets.

Grayscale, Bitwise, and Franklin Templeton also launched their own XRP ETFs in November. On December 11, 21Shares joined the XRP fund party.

It’s a noteworthy green shoot in the crypto space, as bitcoin and its ETFs have struggled, and XRP itself is down nearly 15% over the past month.

Jake Hanley, managing director and senior portfolio specialist at Teucrium Investment Advisors — which launched the first-ever XRP-based ETF in April, the 2x Long Daily XRP ETF — told Sherwood News that he is not surprised to see this level of interest in the XRP ETFs.

“We have long held that XRP and the Ripple ecosystem present a unique investment case among crypto assets. Crossing the $1 billion mark is yet another signal of the significant vote of confidence investors have in this increasingly important asset and ecosystem,” Hanley said.

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New bitcoin AfterDark ETF will be bitcoin at night, Treasurys by day

Tidal Trust II submitted form N-1A with the SEC to register a bitcoin ETF designed to systemically capture the cryptocurrency’s overnight return profile, a time window that delivered a significant portion of bitcoin’s upside last year.

The Nicholas Bitcoin and Treasuries AfterDark ETF provides long bitcoin exposure during US overnight hours, from the closing bell until the following morning’s market open, when the fund intends to unwind its positions, according to a document filed with the SEC on Tuesday. 

To gain that exposure, the ETF may use a number of methods, including bitcoin futures contracts, US-listed ETFs, or exchange-traded options on such bitcoin underlying funds. When the market is open and daytime trading is active, the fund’s portfolio will consist of US Treasury securities and other cash equivalents. 

In 2024, most of bitcoin’s gains occurred after-hours, senior Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas reported:

The AfterDark ETF filing comes as bitcoin crossed $94,000 on Tuesday, rising 4.5% in the last 24 hours. Even though spot bitcoin ETFs saw nearly $60.5 million in outflows on Monday, the investment vehicles have a cumulative net inflow of $57.6 billion, per SoSoValue.

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