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MARA Mining Company Cuts 15% of Staff Amid Transition to AI and Digital Infrastructure
Public Bitcoin miner MARA Holdings announced it has reduced its workforce by approximately 15% as part of a strategic business transformation. The decision affected workers across various departments, including contractors, and occurred in waves over several days. This was reported by Blockspace.
According to sources, "these layoffs are deep," and in some cases entire teams may have been eliminated.
In an internal message, the company's CEO Fred Thiel said:
"This is not just a financial decision — it’s strategic. As we’ve mentioned in our recent announcements with Starwood and Exaion, we’re focusing the company in a new direction. This means our team structure needs to change alongside this."
The company emphasized that employees affected by the layoffs will receive:
- one month of paid leave;
- payouts and bonuses until April 30;
- 13 weeks of severance pay;
- full compensation for unused leave.
A MARA representative commented:
"MARA is focused on executing a strategic evolution from a specialized Bitcoin miner to a company in the energy and digital infrastructure sector. As part of this broader growth strategy, […] we made the difficult but necessary decision to reduce our team by approximately 15%."
Bet on AI and Bitcoin Sales
The key driver of these changes has been MARA’s shift towards artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) segments:
In February 2026, the company acquired a controlling stake in Exaion — a subsidiary of EDF that deals with data centers.
MARA also entered into an agreement with Starwood to convert around 1 GW of mining infrastructure for AI workloads.
At the same time, the company is selling Bitcoin reserves to fund its transformation. Specifically:
- it sold 15,133 BTC for more than $1 billion;
- the funds were directed to buy back convertible bonds;
- the company expects to save about $88 million due to the discount.
This move fits into a broader trend: public miners, including Cipher Digital, Bitdeer, and others, are reducing crypto reserves in favor of investments in AI infrastructure.
Currently, MARA operates one of the largest mining farms among public companies — around 66.45 EH/s, representing nearly 5.2% of the Bitcoin network’s hash rate.
Mass Layoffs as New Norm in Crypto and AI Sectors
MARA’s transformation reflects a global trend — companies in the crypto and tech sectors are mass-laying off staff, reallocating resources to AI:
- Gemini exchange cut up to 30% of its staff since early 2026 amid losses and a shift to AI;
- Crypto platform Crypto.com laid off about 12% of employees, integrating AI solutions;
- Jack Dorsey’s Block company reduced its workforce by 40%, after which its stock surged by over 24%;
- PIP Labs (Story Protocol) studio cut 15% of its staff due to AI focus;
- Analytics service Messari also made cuts after a leadership change and pivot to AI strategy.
Outside the crypto sector, similar processes are happening in traditional corporations. For example, Amazon planned to lay off 16,000 workers, while Oracle announced a reduction of nearly 30,000 employees.
Additionally, HSBC is considering a 10% reduction in its workforce (up to 20,000 people) due to automation.
See also: "Iran’s bitcoin hash rate estimated up to 8% amid state-linked mining"
