MARA CEO says retail investors should buy Bitcoin and ‘forget about it’
MARA CEO Fred Thiel said Bitcoin has fallen in only three of the last 14 calendar years, which is why retail should consider buying Bitcoin and just let it appreciate in value.
The CEO of Bitcoin mining firm MARA Holdings, Fred Thiel, 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 price has only fallen only three times over the last 14 calendar years.
“My recommendation, to my kids, for example, is they put just a little bit away every month in Bitcoin and forget about it.”
“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 may 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 followed an X poll from Bitcoin bull and MicroStrategy executive chairman Michael Saylor that found 77.7% of the 65,164 participants plan to increase their Bitcoin holdings in 2025.
The results weren’t surprising, given that many 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 has the second-largest Bitcoin holdings among publicly 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 with last year.
The value of MARA’s Bitcoin holdings also increased from Bitcoin appreciating nearly 120% throughout the year.
