Riot Platforms invests in over 33,000 crypto mining rigs

Cryptocurrency Mining Farm – CC BY-SA

Riot Platforms has invested $162.9 million to acquire 33,280 state-of-the-art Bitcoin miners for its Texas facility.

The Bitcoin mining company has made the purchase from supplier MicroBT well in advance of Bitcoin’s next halving cycle. It is estimated to be fully deployed around mid-2024, with the machines arriving in December of this year.

This acquisition positions Riot Platforms as a standout among the rest, especially compared to similar investments made by rival companies throughout this year.

The company has obtained a total of 8,320 M56S+ models and 24,960 of the new M56S++ models. The M56S++ was released in late April, and its excellent power efficiency of 22 joules per terahash (J/TH) and an impressive maximum hash rate of 230 terahashes per second (TH/s) sets it apart from others in the market.

Riot has also emphasized the possibility of getting an additional 66,560 M56S++ models by December 31, 2024. It has the flexible choice of using this provision either fully or partially.

“These new miners will contribute an additional 7.6 EH/s to Riot’s self-mining capacity when fully deployed and will further enhance our already strong fleet efficiency in advance of the upcoming Bitcoin halving.” Riot Platforms CEO Jason Les said on June 26.

This will increase Riot’s total capacity to an impressive 20.1 EH/s. He also mentioned the integration of specialized gear for “immersion cooling systems,” similar to the ones used at the firm’s Corsicana site.

Mining stocks surge

Bitcoin miners have accomplished a new milestone by transferring $128 million to cryptocurrency exchanges. This amounts to a substantial 315 percent of their daily earnings.

The selling pressure is indicated but expected to be absorbed as miners recover from losses suffered during the “crypto winter” phase.

Core Scientific, a prominent U.S. Bitcoin mining company, experienced the effects of this cycle. It went public with the ticker CORZ and obtained a valuation of $4 billion back in July 2021.

After the collapse of Sam Bankman Fried’s FTX and a widespread downturn in the cryptocurrency market, CORZ eventually filed for bankruptcy in December. However, following BlackRock’s ETF filing, investors may look at Bitcoin mining companies as a way to participate in the market indirectly.

Furthermore, alongside the changing institutional landscape that resulted in a $199 million inflow into digital asset funds, the upcoming Bitcoin halving will lower BTC rewards from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC, decreasing Bitcoin’s inflation rate and increasing the value of each BTC.

Starting back in April, Riot Platforms has displayed an optimistic outlook. In addition to the recent purchase, the company has acquired 42,000 S19j Antiminer rigs from Bitmain, a prominent Chinese manufacturer.

The total value of the contract amounted to $138.5 million. With the inclusion of these additional miners, Riot’s hashrate capacity witnessed an impressive surge of 93 percent, resulting in an additional 3.7 EH/s.

Riot’s mining capacity has already managed to reach 10.5 EH/s across 94,176 deployed miners by the end of May. It is also worth noting that Riot stock has surged by a stellar 228 percent year-to-date.

Additionally, Hut 8 has recently secured a $50 million credit facility from Coinbase Credit. The North American mining company said in an official statement that the loan funds would be used for “general corporate purposes.” This move grants Hut 8 greater financial flexibility and improved control over its Bitcoin holdings.