Marathon Digital Holdings (MARA), a major publicly traded Bitcoin mining company, has completed the acquisition of a 64% controlling stake in Exaion, a French computing infrastructure operator and subsidiary of energy giant Électricité de France (EDF). The deal, first agreed upon in August 2025 with EDF Pulse Ventures, received final regulatory approval and was announced on Friday, February 21, 2026. EDF will remain a minority shareholder and a customer of the business.
The transaction creates a broader strategic alliance. As part of the partnership, NJJ Capital, the investment vehicle of telecom entrepreneur Xavier Niel, will acquire a 10% stake in MARA France. Governance of Exaion will reflect the new ownership, with the board comprising three representatives from MARA, three from EDF Pulse Ventures, one from NJJ, alongside Exaion's CEO. Both Niel and MARA CEO Fred Thiel will hold board seats.
This move represents a significant strategic pivot for MARA, deepening its push into artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud services. The acquisition provides MARA with immediate access to Exaion's established client base, technical team in high-performance computing (HPC) and secure cloud services, and a crucial link to EDF's vast, often low-carbon, energy resources. This grants MARA a strategic foothold in the European Union's digital infrastructure market.
The deal underscores a broader industry trend where Bitcoin mining companies are diversifying into adjacent high-growth tech sectors. Following the 2024 Bitcoin halving, which cut block rewards and squeezed margins, miners face increased pressure on mining economics. Companies are increasingly adopting a hybrid model, maintaining mining for cash flow while building steadier revenue from AI cloud and HPC services.
Other firms like HIVE Digital Technologies, CoreWeave, TeraWulf, Hut 8, and IREN are similarly repurposing mining facilities and energy capacity into AI data centers. For instance, HIVE reported strong results supported by expanding AI operations even during weaker Bitcoin prices. In a related move, CleanSpark announced plans in November to raise over $1 billion to fund the expansion of its Bitcoin mining and data center operations.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin's mining network difficulty rose approximately 15% to 144.4 trillion on the same Friday, reversing an 11% drop earlier in the month—the steepest decline since China's 2021 mining ban. The earlier fall was attributed to severe winter storms in the U.S. that disrupted power grids and forced miners offline. The higher difficulty reinforces network security but also increases the computing effort required to mine new blocks, adding further margin pressure on operators.
