TLDR
- MARA Holdings has finalized its purchase of a 64% share in Exaion, a French data center company
- The transaction was initially agreed upon in August 2025 with EDF Pulse Ventures, valued at approximately $168 million in cash
- NJJ Capital—supported by billionaire Xavier Niel—will acquire a 10% stake in MARA France as part of a strategic alliance
- Bitcoin mining difficulty surged 15% to 144.4 trillion, increasing margin strain on miners
- MARA plans to announce its quarterly earnings next week; last quarter, it reported a record $123 million profit
MARA Holdings has wrapped up its acquisition of a 64% stake in Exaion, a French firm that constructs and runs data centers, cloud services, and AI infrastructure.
The deal, first agreed to in August 2025 with EDF Pulse Ventures, got final regulatory clearance following French government review over possible sovereignty issues. Bloomberg had earlier stated that MARA paid about $168 million in cash to obtain the majority share.
EDF— which provides energy to some 41 million customers and recorded consolidated sales of €113.3 billion in 2025—will stay a minority shareholder and continue as an Exaion client.
As part of the transaction, NJJ Capital—the investment arm of telecom entrepreneur Xavier Niel—will take a 10% stake in MARA France. Both Niel and CEO Fred Thiel will serve on Exaion’s board of directors.
The board will consist of three representatives from MARA, three from EDF Pulse Ventures, one from NJJ, along with Exaion’s CEO and co-founder.
The three parties noted their objective is to “speed up Exaion’s growth, enhance its abilities in secure cloud services and high-performance computing, and help Exaion become a European leader in digital infrastructure.”
Bitcoin Miners Pivot to AI
MARA’s action is part of a broader trend. Following the 2024 halving that reduced block rewards and increasing network difficulty that tightened margins, multiple publicly traded miners started adopting a hybrid approach—maintaining mining operations while generating revenue from AI cloud and high-performance computing services.
, CoreWeave, TeraWulf, Hut 8, and IREN are among the companies repurposing mining facilities and energy capacity for AI tasks.
In November, CleanSpark revealed plans to raise up to $1.28 billion via a senior convertible note offering to finance expansion in both Bitcoin mining and data center operations.
Mining Difficulty Rises Sharply
Bitcoin mining difficulty increased by around 15% to 144.4 trillion on Friday. This reversed an 11% drop earlier in the month—the sharpest fall since China’s 2021 mining ban—which was caused by severe winter storms across the U.S. that disrupted power grids and forced many miners to shut down.
The elevated difficulty raises the computing power needed to mine new blocks, putting additional cost pressure on operators.
MARA’s stock has declined approximately 17% year-to-date and dropped about 40% last year.
The company is set to report its quarterly earnings next week. Last quarter, it recorded a record $123 million profit, fueled by its Bitcoin operations along with new power and AI assets.
