EDF, MARA, and NJJ Advance Exaion Deal to Expand European HPC and AI Infrastructure

PARIS / MIAMI — Feb. 20, 2026 — EDF Pulse Ventures, MARA, and NJJ said they have reached a new stage in the Exaion transaction, with all conditions precedent now satisfied and closing expected in the coming days. The update advances a deal first announced in August 2025 and sets up a new ownership and governance structure for Exaion, a French digital infrastructure company focused on high-performance computing and secure cloud services.

Under the transaction terms, MARA France is set to acquire a 64% stake in Exaion. EDF Group will remain involved as a minority shareholder and also continue as a client of the company.

What changes after closing

The announcement outlines a three-way industrial and capital partnership around Exaion:

• MARA becomes the majority owner of Exaion (64%)
• EDF Group stays on as a minority shareholder and customer
• NJJ takes a 10% minority stake in MARA France through a separate capital partnership agreement with MARA Holdings

That structure signals a broader strategic buildout, not just a simple acquisition. MARA brings digital infrastructure scale, EDF remains tied in as an industrial anchor, and NJJ adds capital and governance participation. This is an inference based on the ownership and board design described in the release.

Board structure and governance

Exaion’s board is expected to include:

• Three representatives appointed by MARA
• Three representatives appointed by EDF Pulse Ventures
• One representative appointed by NJJ
• Exaion’s CEO and co-founder

The release also says Xavier Niel and Fred Thiel (MARA CEO) will serve on Exaion’s Board of Directors, adding high-profile oversight to the next growth phase.

Why Exaion matters in this deal

Exaion is described as a company that develops and operates high-performance computing (HPC) data centers and provides secure cloud and AI infrastructure. The stated goal of the partnership is to accelerate Exaion’s expansion, strengthen those capabilities, and position the company as a leading European digital infrastructure player built from France.

In plain terms: this is not a mining-only story. It’s a broader infrastructure play around compute, cloud security, and AI capacity—areas where Europe has been trying to build stronger domestic capability. (This is a contextual inference from the company description and the “leading European player” language in the release.)

Industry takeaway: why this matters for crypto and digital infrastructure

This is useful for the crypto industry because it shows how crypto-native infrastructure companies are increasingly moving into the HPC + AI + secure cloud stack.

Why that matters:

• Infrastructure diversification is becoming strategic. Firms with crypto roots are building positions in broader compute infrastructure, which can reduce reliance on one business cycle.
• Europe-focused capacity is a real theme. Exaion is being positioned as a France-based platform for European digital infrastructure, which fits the region’s push for more local, resilient tech capacity.
• Crypto and AI infrastructure are converging operationally. The same core capabilities—data centers, power management, secure compute, and reliability—matter across both sectors.

Bottom line: this deal is less about a token or product launch and more about who controls the next generation of industrial digital infrastructure in Europe — and MARA is clearly trying to be part of that buildout.

Source: MARA Press Release