Thomas Daniels
Riot Platforms, a prominent Bitcoin mining company based in Colorado, has announced the acquisition of Block Mining, a Kentucky-based competitor, for $92.5 million. This strategic purchase aims to enhance Riot’s operational capacity by 16 exahashes per second (EH/s).
The acquisition deal includes an $18.5 million cash payment and $74 million in Riot common stock, as detailed in a press release dated July 24. The transaction immediately boosts Riot’s self-mining hashrate by 1 EH/s, with the potential to expand up to 16 EH/s by the end of 2025.
Jason Les, CEO of Riot Platforms, highlighted the acquisition’s significance, noting, “With a combined 60 MW of existing developed capacity and a pipeline to rapidly scale to over 300 MW, this acquisition expands our operations and further enhances our path towards our growth target of 100 EH/s.”
Additionally, Riot Platforms plans to invest an extra $32.5 million through 2025 to enhance the power capacity of Block Mining’s two operational sites in Kentucky. The company aims to increase the infrastructure to support 110 MW for self-mining operations by the end of 2024.
Following the announcement, Riot’s shares dropped 5.3% to $11.59, according to Google Finance data. This acquisition comes shortly after Riot Platforms proposed a $950 million acquisition of Bitfarms, another competitor. However, the deal fell through as Riot cited challenges in engaging with Bitfarms’ board and subsequently requested a special shareholder meeting to discuss governance issues at the Toronto-based firm.
