Coinspeaker Bitfarms and Riot Platforms Announce Settlement to Quell Takeover Saga, Companies Stock Rallies

After closed meetings in the recent past, Riot Platforms Inc (NASDAQ: RIOT), a top-tier Bitcoin (BTC) miner in the United States, has announced that it has reached a settlement agreement with Bitfarms Ltd (NASDAQ: BITF), a Canadian-based crypto miner. The two crypto companies disclosed that the prior impasse has been resolved, with Andrés Finkielsztain, a co-founder of Bitfarms, stepping down from the company’s board of directors.

The settlement agreement was welcomed by both parties, with Jason Les, the CEO of Riot Platforms, emphasizing that the support of the reconstituted Bitfarms’ board members will remain strong.

“We are pleased to reach this agreement with Riot and look forward to turning our full attention to executing our growth strategy. We remain focused on diversifying the business beyond Bitcoin mining into exciting and synergistic new areas like energy generation, energy trading, heat recycling, and other high-value revenue streams like HPC/AI,” Ben Gagnon, Chief Executive Officer of Bitfarms, noted.

Details of the Settlement Agreement Between Riot Platforms and Bitfarms

Under the new settlement agreement, in addition to Finkielsztain stepping down from the board members, Bitfarms appointed Amy Freedman, a well-seasoned expert currently working as an advisor to Ewing Morris.

Notably, Riot Platforms has agreed to withdraw its June requisition. Meanwhile, Bitfarms’ shareholders will be asked to approve the expansion of the board members from 5 to 6 in an upcoming special meeting.

Most importantly, Bitfarms has agreed to Riot’s takeover deal, provided it gets to hold at least 15 percent of the new entity.

What Happened?

Earlier this year in May, Riot Platforms announced that it had proposed to acquire Bitfarms for $2.3 per share, in a bid to become the world’s largest publicly traded Bitcoin miner. Furthermore, Riot had already acquired a 9.25 percent stake in Bitfarms and intended to acquire the remaining outstanding shares for about $950 million.

However, Riot Platforms intended to offer Bitfarms’ shareholders only a 17 percent stake in the larger company, which did not resonate well with some investors.

Market Impact

Following the settlement deal between the two companies, their respective stock markets gained bullish momentum. Furthermore, both companies’ stock markets have been bleeding year-to-date, despite the impressive gains made by Bitcoin in the same period.

For instance, itfarms’ stock market has gained around 2.25 percent in the past 24 hours to trade at about $2.055 on Monday during the early New York session. However, the $908 million valued company has seen its value drop by over 29 percent YTD.

On the other hand, Riot shares gained around 2 percent on Monday to trade about $7.28 at the time of this report. The $2.18 billion valued company has seen its stock market plummet over 50 percent since the beginning of this year.

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Bitfarms and Riot Platforms Announce Settlement to Quell Takeover Saga, Companies Stock Rallies