Riot Platforms Makes Significant Strides in Bitcoin Mining, Hash Rate Up 50%
Bitcoin mining company Riot Platforms (RIOT) has reported a significant uptick in its mining activities, achieving a 50% increase in deployed hash rate in June 2024. This surge translates to a nearly 20% rise in mined Bitcoin compared to May.
Riot’s hash rate, a metric representing the total computational power dedicated to mining, jumped from 14.7 exahashes per second (EH/s) to a new high of 22 EH/s. This impressive feat was attributed to the completion of miner installations at the company’s Corsicana facility and the utilization of additional capacity at its Rockdale location.
In a statement released on July 3rd, Riot’s CEO, Jason Les, declared June a “historic month” for the company. This success can be attributed to exceeding their mid-year deployed hash rate target of 21.4 EH/s. Notably, the energization of these new miners occurred primarily in the latter days of June.
Riot opted to retain all Bitcoin mined in June, consequently increasing their total Bitcoin holdings to 9,334 – valued at approximately $561.6 million based on current market prices. While this represents a positive development, it’s important to note that the mined Bitcoin amount (255 BTC) reflects a 45% decrease year-over-year. This decline is primarily due to the Bitcoin halving event that took place in April 2024, which reduced the block reward by 50%.
Riot Climbs the Bitcoin Mining Leaderboard
With this impressive hash rate increase, Riot Platforms has secured the position of the second-largest Bitcoin miner globally. This achievement surpasses competitors like CleanSpark and Core Scientific, both of which have also reported hash rates exceeding 20 EH/s. Currently, the only company surpassing Riot is Marathon Digital, holding the top spot with a hash rate of 31.5 EH/s.
For those unfamiliar with the technical aspects of Bitcoin mining, hash rate refers to the combined computational power employed to validate transactions on proof-of-work blockchains like Bitcoin. Essentially, a higher hash rate indicates a greater mining capacity.
Riot Platforms has expressed confidence in its ability to further expand its self-mining hash rate capacity, aiming to reach 31.5 EH/s by the end of 2024. Additionally, the company has set an ambitious long-term target of achieving a hash rate of 100 EH/s by 2027 or shortly thereafter. This ambitious goal hinges on the potential exercise of an option to purchase additional mining equipment from MicroBT.
Beyond the mining achievements, Riot Platforms also reported earning $6.2 million in power credits during June. However, the company’s stock price (RIOT) experienced a slight decline of 1.5% on Wednesday, reaching $9.57 (as per Google Finance data). This translates to a year-to-date decrease of 37.9% and a 28.3% drop over the past year.
Riot Platforms’ recent performance signifies a significant milestone in the company’s journey as a Bitcoin miner. The substantial increase in hash rate and strategic capacity expansion position Riot for continued growth in the competitive Bitcoin mining landscape.