MARA Holdings has completed the purchase of a 64% stake in French computing infrastructure operator Exaion, closing a deal first agreed in August 2025 with EDF Pulse Ventures. The transaction, finalized after regulatory approvals, gives MARA France majority ownership of the business while French energy group EDF remains a minority shareholder and a customer.
The agreement also brings in NJJ Capital, the investment vehicle of telecom entrepreneur Xavier Niel. NJJ will acquire a 10% stake in MARA France as part of a broader partnership arrangement.
Exaion’s governance will reflect the new structure. Its board will include three representatives from MARA, three from EDF Pulse Ventures and one from NJJ, alongside Exaion’s chief executive and co-founder. Xavier Niel and MARA CEO Fred Thiel will both take seats on the board.
Publicly traded Bitcoin miners have been reassessing their business models since the 2024 halving cut block rewards in half. At the same time, rising network difficulty and higher energy costs have compressed profitability. The result has been a search for steadier revenue streams that can use existing power capacity and data center infrastructure.
Several operators have adopted hybrid strategies that retain mining operations while allocating capital toward AI cloud services and high-performance computing. HIVE Digital Technologies reported stronger resilience during periods of weaker Bitcoin prices as it expanded its AI-related activity. CoreWeave, once tied closely to crypto mining, has built itself into a major AI infrastructure provider after GPU mining demand declined.
Other firms including TeraWulf, Hut 8, IREN and MARA have redirected parts of their mining footprint toward AI data centers. CleanSpark last year announced plans to raise roughly $1.13 billion in net proceeds through a senior convertible note offering to fund expansion of both Bitcoin mining and data center operations.
Exaion operates computing infrastructure in France, providing cloud and digital services. By acquiring majority control, MARA gains a foothold in European AI and high-performance computing markets while retaining an industrial partner in EDF.
Unlike greenfield data center builds, the Exaion transaction offers an operating platform with existing governance, customer relationships and infrastructure. EDF’s continued minority ownership and customer role suggest continuity in commercial arrangements even as MARA takes operational control.
The addition of NJJ Capital and Xavier Niel to the ownership and board structure brings telecom and infrastructure expertise into the venture. For MARA, the deal extends beyond crypto-linked compute demand and into broader enterprise and cloud services.
The diversification push comes as Bitcoin mining conditions tighten again. Network difficulty rose about 15% to 144.4 trillion, reversing an 11% decline earlier in the month that had followed severe winter storms in the United States. Those storms disrupted power grids and temporarily pushed many miners offline, reducing overall hash rate.
Higher difficulty increases the computational effort required to mine new blocks. While it strengthens network security, it also raises costs for operators already facing tighter margins.
MARA shares are down 17% year to date, reflecting broader volatility across listed mining companies. As difficulty rises and post-halving economics settle in, investors are likely to watch whether AI-linked revenue can offset swings in hashprice and energy costs.
