Las Vegas — MARA Holdings (MARA) CEO Fred Thiel announced the launch of the MARA Foundation at the Bitcoin Conference Monday, outlining a broad effort to support the long-term resilience of the bitcoin network beyond the firm’s bitcoin and AI mining operations.
“Bitcoin is the most important decentralized system ever created, but its future is not guaranteed,” Thiel said, framing the initiative around the idea that the network requires active stewardship.
Thiel described bitcoin as “a public utility that nobody owns, but everybody depends on,” adding that decentralization “doesn’t mean it runs on itself, it means responsibility is distributed.”
The foundation will focus on maintaining bitcoin’s core properties as “sound, durable money,” while advocating for its open and global use. Key priorities include supporting the network’s security budget, particularly the development of a sustainable transaction-fee market, and funding research into emerging risks, such as quantum computing.
MARA also plans to fund open source development across scaling, mining, and user infrastructure, expand access to self-custody, and promote financial sovereignty worldwide.
Education and policy engagement are central to the initiative, including technical training, multilingual resources, and outreach to regulators.
As part of the launch, MARA will award $100,000 to one of three nonprofit organizations, with the recipient chosen by community vote, underscoring Thiel’s call for shared responsibility across the ecosystem.