Riot Platforms has made significant strategic shifts in its operations, selling 1,818 Bitcoin in December for a total of $161.6 million, achieving an average net price of $88,870 per coin. This decision is part of the company’s transition from Bitcoin mining toward monetizing its existing power and data center infrastructure, particularly to support artificial intelligence (AI) workloads. By the end of December, Riot held 18,005 Bitcoin, including 3,977 restricted Bitcoin, a decrease from 19,368 Bitcoin at the end of November. During December, the company produced 460 Bitcoin.
Restricted Bitcoin refers to those holdings that are pledged as collateral for debt and are maintained in a segregated custody account. This recent sale aligns with Riot’s announcement in October that it would no longer prioritize Bitcoin mining as its primary focus. Instead, the company is redirecting its efforts toward establishing a proposed 1-gigawatt AI data center campus.
In a notable restructuring of its reporting strategy, Riot stated that the December report would be its final monthly production and operations update. Going forward, the company will provide quarterly disclosures that will highlight overall business performance, data center strategies, and progress in Bitcoin mining.
Riot’s position in the industry is noteworthy; as of now, it ranks seventh among publicly traded companies in terms of Bitcoin holdings, according to data from Bitcointreasuries.net. The rise in Bitcoin mining costs, particularly following the recent April 2024 halving—which reduced block rewards—has prompted miners to explore revenue sources beyond Bitcoin production. One of the most promising avenues for growth has been through partnerships with AI companies.
The energy-intensive nature of Bitcoin mining operations has caught the attention of AI and technology firms seeking reliable access to high-performance computing capacity. Recently, Google emerged as a significant player by becoming the largest shareholder of TeraWulf, holding roughly 14% of its outstanding shares. This investment supports a ten-year colocation lease with Fluidstack, enabling TeraWulf to provide data center capacity specifically for AI workloads.
In a further sign of deepening ties between technology companies and Bitcoin miners, Google also acquired a 5.4% stake in Cipher Mining, as part of a $3 billion multi-year agreement for data center capacity involving Fluidstack. This arrangement guarantees $1.4 billion of Fluidstack’s obligations under a ten-year contract regarding computing capacity leasing from Cipher.
In November, IREN entered into a substantial five-year agreement with Microsoft valued at $9.7 billion to provide GPU cloud services, aimed at hosting Nvidia GB300 GPUs within its data centers. Around the same time, the leading Bitcoin miner announced a $5.8 billion partnership with Dell Technologies to procure GPUs and associated equipment essential for its operational deployment and future prospects.
These developments signal a broader trend as Bitcoin miners adapt to evolving market conditions, exploring avenues that leverage their existing infrastructure while tapping into the burgeoning demand for AI computing power.
