Bitcoin’s debasement trade hits a contradiction as MARA sells $1.5 billion while JPMorgan calls it the new gold

Bitcoin has climbed roughly 30% over the past two months, from a February low near $62,000 to around $80,621 by May 12, helped by renewed interest in assets seen as resistant to currency debasement.

The rally has revived an old debate. Can Bitcoin actually behave like gold during periods of fiscal stress, or is it still mainly a speculative trade?

The contradiction is now sitting inside the Bitcoin treasury cohort itself. The largest publicly traded Bitcoin miner is selling into the rally rather than accumulating.

What MARA’s earnings revealed

MARA Holdings sold 20,880 Bitcoin worth $1.5 billion in Q1 2026 to retire debt and fund its AI infrastructure pivot, per its May 12 earnings disclosure.

The company used $1 billion of the proceeds to retire roughly 30% of its convertible debt, reducing obligations from $3.3 billion to $2.3 billion.

MARA fell from second to fourth in public Bitcoin holdings and reported a $1.26 billion net loss.

The proceeds are funding MARA’s largest acquisition: a $1.5 billion deal for the Long Ridge Energy & Power campus in Ohio, including a 505-megawatt gas-fired plant and 1,600 acres for AI data center development.

The company expects to repurpose up to 90% of its mining capacity for AI workloads. During the earnings call, CFO Salman Khan said:

As Cryptopolitan reported on May 9, MARA’s Long Ridge deal sits alongside similar pivots from IREN and DMG.

Publicly listed miners collectively sold over 32,000 BTC in Q1 2026, surpassing total miner sales for all of 2025.

What JPMorgan says about the debasement trade

JPMorgan analysts led by Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou said Bitcoin ETFs have recorded inflows for three consecutive months through May, while gold ETFs are still struggling to recover from the outflows that followed March’s Iran conflict.

The Block reported the bank’s view that “Bitcoin has been rising at the expense of gold.”

Ray Dalio reiterated the broader thesis in a Forbes interview last week:

The framework anchors what JPMorgan calls the “debasement trade,” in which investors move capital into scarce assets as paper currencies weaken over time. The backdrop is roughly $39 trillion in US federal debt.

The split inside the treasury cohort

Strategy added 145,834 BTC year-to-date and could buy $30 billion of Bitcoin in 2026 at its current pace, per JPMorgan.

The company now holds 818,334 BTC worth more than $65 billion. MARA holds 35,303 BTC post-quarter, valued at roughly $2.84 billion, and is no longer adding to it.

The divergence captures a real strategic disagreement. Strategy treats Bitcoin as a generational accumulation play against fiat debasement. MARA treats it as balance-sheet ammunition, converting mining capacity into AI power infrastructure for hyperscaler tenants who will pay in dollars.

Goldman Sachs, for its part, raised its year-end gold target to $5,400 per ounce, citing lower long-term volatility and central bank demand.

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