{"id":51888,"date":"2026-04-27T12:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T17:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/?p=51888"},"modified":"2026-04-27T12:29:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T17:29:23","slug":"mara-launches-bitcoin-focused-foundation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/news\/mara-launches-bitcoin-focused-foundation","title":{"rendered":"MARA Launches Bitcoin-Focused Foundation, Opens $100,000 Community Grant Vote"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"bsf_rt_marker\"><\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">MARA Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: MARA) announced the launch of the MARA Foundation, an initiative focused on strengthening the Bitcoin network and expanding access to bitcoin as a financial tool.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The company unveiled the foundation today at the Bitcoin 2026 conference in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/tags\/mara\">The MARA Foundation<\/a> will support Bitcoin development across five areas: network security, including research into quantum resistance; open-source software development; access to self-custody tools and infrastructure; public policy and advocacy; and education for users, developers, and policymakers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To mark the launch, the foundation introduced a $100,000 contribution that will be awarded to one of three selected organizations through a community vote. Voting is open through April 29 at 3:00 PM PST on the foundation\u2019s website, with in-person voting available at MARA\u2019s conference booth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;Our new initiative is dedicated to supporting the long-term strength, resilience and accessibility of the Bitcoin network,&#8221; MARA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer <a href=\"https:\/\/2026.b.tc\/speaker\/fred-thiel---mara\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Fred Thie<a href=\"https:\/\/2026.b.tc\/speaker\/fred-thiel---mara\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">l<\/a><\/a> said at The Bitcoin 2026 Conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Organizations selected for MARA&#8217;s grant<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The selected organizations include SateNet, which builds community-operated wireless networks powered by Bitcoin; the 256 Foundation, which funds open-source Bitcoin mining hardware and software development; and Libreria de Satoshi, which focuses on expanding access to Bitcoin technical education across languages and regions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thiel said the company\u2019s role in mining Bitcoin creates a responsibility to support the protocol\u2019s long-term development. He said the foundation will fund researchers, developers, and educators working on the next phase of Bitcoin\u2019s growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;We mine Bitcoin. We help secure the network every day. That gives us a responsibility to invest in the protocol&#8217;s long-term health, not just its short-term economics,&#8221; said Thiel.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The winning organization will be announced after voting closes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Back in March, MARA Holdings <a href=\"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/news\/mara-dumps-1-1-billion-in-bitcoin\">sold<\/a> 15,133 Bitcoin for about $1.1 billion to fund the repurchase of its 0% convertible senior notes.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The company reduced its outstanding convertible debt by roughly 30%, cutting it from about $3.3 billion to $2.3 billion and achieving savings from discounted buybacks.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">MARA said the move strengthened its balance sheet, limited potential shareholder dilution, and supported its broader shift toward AI and high-performance computing while its Bitcoin holdings fell to 38,689 BTC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Shares of MARA are trading near $11.65 a share, according to recent market data. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MARA announced the launch of the MARA Foundation, an initiative focused on strengthening the Bitcoin network.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3817,"featured_media":51928,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4378],"tags":[480,264,6502,6121],"class_list":["post-51888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-bitcoin-conference","tag-mara","tag-mara-holdings","tag-thiel"],"author_data":{"id":3817,"name":"Micah Zimmerman","nicename":"micahzimmerman","avatar_url":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Micah_Zimmerman_Author_Image.jpg"},"featured_image_url":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Pics-39.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3817"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51888"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51888\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}