 MARA CEO says retail investors should buy Bitcoin and ‘forget about it’ 
2025-01-03
Category: None

The CEO of Bitcoin mining firm MARA Holdings, Fred Thiel, has recommended an invest-and-forget Bitcoin strategy for retail investors, citing Bitcoin’s strong price performance over the long term. 
In a Jan. 2 interview with FOX Business, Thiel noted that Bitcoin’s BTCUSD price has only fallen three times over the last 14 calendar years in arguing why retail investors should adopt the strategy.
“Over two, three, four years, it grows, and that’s what people do,” said Thiel, who added that Bitcoin rises on average between 29% and 50% in most years.
Bitcoin, however, is still considered a relatively risky asset with far more volatility than most TradFi assets. As a result, Thiel’s invest-and-forget strategy could be more challenging for some investors. 
Thiel highlighted several catalysts that could push Bitcoin’s price higher in 2025, including the potential for a United States Bitcoin reserve, more institutional adoption through spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds and a friendlier regulatory environment under the incoming Trump Administration. 
Thiel’s comments follow an X poll from Bitcoin bull and MicroStrategy executive chairman Michael Saylor which found 77.7% of the 65,164 voters plan to increase their Bitcoin holdings in 2025.
The results aren’t surprising, given a large portion of Saylor’s 3.9 million X followers are Bitcoin advocates.
Thiel’s MARA plans to hold Bitcoin for the long haul, too.
In July, MARA shifted to a new treasury policy to retain all Bitcoin it mines and adopt a range of capital market instruments to bolster its Bitcoin reserves, similar to MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin playbook.
It currently holds the second-largest Bitcoin holdings among public-listed companies at 44,394 Bitcoin — worth $4.3 billion at current prices — trailing only MicroStrategy’s 446,400 Bitcoin stack, BitcoinTreasuries.NET data shows.
The 44,394 Bitcoin that MARA closed 2024 with marked a 192.5% increase from the 15,174 Bitcoin it started last year with.
The value of MARA’s Bitcoin holdings also increased from Bitcoin appreciating nearly 120% throughout the year.