Riot Platforms Sells $161 Million in Bitcoin to Shift Strategy

Riot Platforms Abandons Bitcoin Mining

Riot Platforms sold 1,818 BTC in December for $161.6 million, at an average net price of $88,870, as part of a strategic shift from Bitcoin mining to monetizing its energy infrastructure and data centers, including support for artificial intelligence workloads, the company announced on Tuesday.

As of December 31, the company held 18,005 Bitcoin, including 3,977 restricted BTC, down from 19,368 Bitcoin at the end of November, while producing 460 Bitcoin that month. Restricted Bitcoin refers to BTC that the company owns but has pledged as collateral in its debt facilities and is held in a segregated custody account, according to its regulatory filings.

Riot also announced that its December report will be the last monthly update on production and operations, as the company is shifting towards quarterly disclosures focused on overall business performance, data center strategy, and advancements in Bitcoin mining.

Additionally, in October, the company indicated that Bitcoin mining is no longer its ultimate goal, outlining plans to reconfigure its energy infrastructure to support a 1-gigawatt AI data center campus.

As Bitcoin mining costs have increased following the block reward halving in April 2024, miners have increasingly sought revenue opportunities beyond BTC production. A significant area of interest has been artificial intelligence computing, given that Bitcoin miners operate energy-dense data centers and large-scale power infrastructure.