- MARA Holdings completes its acquisition of a 64% majority stake in French infrastructure firm Exaion.
- The deal deepens the Bitcoin miner’s diversification into AI and cloud services amid sector-wide economic pressure.
- As part of the broader alliance, telecom investor NJJ Capital will take a 10% stake in MARA France.
- Bitcoin mining difficulty surged 15% on Friday, increasing the computational effort required for operators.
In a major strategic expansion, MARA Holdings has finalized its purchase of a majority stake in French computing infrastructure operator Exaion, the company said on Friday. The move significantly deepens the Bitcoin miner’s push into Artificial Intelligence and cloud services as the industry pivots from pure-play cryptocurrency operations.
The finalized deal gives MARA France a controlling 64% stake in Exaion. French energy giant EDF will remain a minority shareholder and continue as a customer of the business it originally incubated.
Consequently, a broader alliance was formed with NJJ Capital, the investment vehicle of entrepreneur Xavier Niel. As part of the partnership, NJJ will acquire a 10% stake in MARA France.
Governance of Exaion will now reflect this new ownership structure. The board will include three representatives each from MARA and EDF Pulse Ventures, plus one from NJJ.
This pivot mirrors an industry-wide trend where Bitcoin miners are repurposing infrastructure toward AI. Pressure on mining economics has grown since the 2024 halving cut block rewards.
Companies like HIVE Digital Technologies and CoreWeave exemplify this hybrid model shift. They are building steadier revenue from AI cloud services to complement mining cash flow.
Other firms, including TeraWulf, Hut 8, IREN and MARA, are following a similar strategy. They are converting mining facilities and energy capacity into AI data centers.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin’s mining difficulty rose about 15% to 144.4 trillion on Friday. This reversed an 11% drop earlier in the month caused by severe U.S. winter storms.
The higher difficulty reinforces network security but raises the computing effort needed to mine new blocks. This adds further margin pressure on operators already dealing with rising costs.
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