Riot Platforms increases its bitcoin holdings by over 5,000 BTC

Riot Platforms announced on Friday that it had acquired 5,117 bitcoin between Dec. 10 and Dec. 12, 2024.

The bitcoin miner's most recent acquisition of the largest digital asset came in at approximately $510 million, at an average price of approximately $99,669 per bitcoin, inclusive of fees and expenses. The company has now increased its total bitcoin holdings to 16,728.

The bitcoin purchases were made using a portion of the net proceeds from the offering of its 0.75% convertible senior notes due 2030 as well as using its existing cash reserves. Riot's stock price (ticker RIOT) rose by over 7% on Friday to $13.28.

Riot’s bitcoin purchase follows a challenging third quarter, in which the company posted a net loss of $154.4 million. The loss was driven by rising costs and unrealized investment losses, as the miner lowered its hash rate targets. Riot has also lowered its 2025 target from 56.6 EH/s to 46.7 EH/s.

Starboard Value invests in Riot

The latest acquisition from the bitcoin miner comes amid news that activist investor Starboard Value has bought up a stake in the company. The U.S. hedge fund, which was founded in 2002 by Jeffrey Smith and Mark Mitchell, wants Riot "to convert some of its bitcoin-mining facilities into capacity for so-called hyperscalers," The Wall Street Journal  reported Thursday.

Hyperscalers operate large-scale data centers designed to handle massive amounts of computing power and storage capacity. The artificial intelligence boom has increased demand for data centers at a time when the latest bitcoin halving event in April cut miners’ revenue in half.