On Friday, Riot Platforms announced that from December 10 to 12, 2024, it acquired 5,117 bitcoins.

The latest acquisition by the bitcoin miner of the largest digital asset cost approximately $510 million at an average price of about $99,669 per bitcoin, including fees and expenses.

The company has now increased its total bitcoin holdings to 16,728.

Bitcoin purchases were made using part of the net proceeds from the offering of convertible senior bonds with a 0.75% interest rate maturing in 2030, as well as existing cash reserves.

The price of Riot shares (ticker RIOT) rose by more than 7% on Friday to $13.28.

Riot's bitcoin purchase followed a challenging third quarter in which the company reported a net loss of $154.4 million.

The loss was attributed to rising expenses and unrealized investment losses as the miner lowered its hash rate targets. Riot also reduced its target for 2025 from 56.6 EH/s to 46.7 EH/s.

The latest acquisition of a bitcoin miner occurred against the backdrop of news that activist investor Starboard Value purchased a stake in the company.

An American hedge fund, founded in 2002 by Jeffrey Smith and Mark Mitchell, wants Riot to 'transform part of its bitcoin mining capacity into capacity for so-called hyperscalers.'

Hyperscalers manage large-scale data centers designed to handle vast 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 in April halved miners' revenues.