Cointime

Cointime

Download App
iOS & Android

Riot Platforms buys $291M in BTC rigs as miners rakes in from Ordinals

Bitcoin miner Riot Platforms is buying 66,560 Bitcoin mining rigs from manufacturer MicroBT, in one of its largest orders of hash-rate in the firm’s history — ahead of the Bitcoin halving scheduled for April 2024.

The additional purchase agreement totaled $290.5 million, Riot stated in a Dec. 4 statement — meaning it paid an average of $4,360 for each machine.

The right-to-purchase option was included in Riot’s initial agreement with MicroBT when it agreed to buy 33,280 machines from MicroBT in June. The two firms have now updated this agreement to provide Riot with options to purchase up to 265,000 additional miners from MicroBT on the same terms as the new order. 

Riot’s CEO Jason Les said the purchase order is “the largest order of hash rate” in the company’s history and hopes the updated agreement will enable Riot’s mining performance to strengthen further.

Over 48,000 or 72% of the new machines will be MicroBT’s latest model, the M66S, which has a hash rate of 250 terahashes per second (TH/s), while the remaining machines will consist of the M66 (14,770) and M56S++ (3,720) models, Riot noted.

Altogether, the 66,560 miners will add 18 exahashes per second (EH/s) to Riot’s operations.

Purchase summary of Riot’s latest deal with MicroBT. Source: Riot Platforms

Riot said the first 33,280 miners bought in June will start to deploy in the first quarter of 2024, while the newest stack of 66,560 miners will deploy in the second half of 2024.

The firm estimates its self-mining hash rate capacity to reach 38 EH/s once the 99,840 rigs are fully installed and operating, which the first expects in the second half of 2025.

The firm previously cited the upcoming Bitcoin halving event — scheduled for April 2024 — as one of the main reasons behind its recent buying spree.

Riot’s stock, tickered RIOT, increased nearly 9% on Dec. 4, according to Google Finance. It is now up over 345% so far in 2023.

Bitcoin miners increase production; Hut 8 Corp begins trading

Bitcoin miner CleanSpark produced 666 BTC in November, up 5.2% from the 633 BTC it produced in October and up 24% from November 2022.

The firm’s CEO Zach Bradford said the firm saw a “significant increase” in production from fees, which he said is likely due to rising interest in Ordinals.

“This trend suggests that fees might soon become a larger source of revenue as bitcoin’s use cases grow and adoption increases,” Bradford added.

Meanwhile, NASDAQ-listed TeraWulf said it mined 323 BTC in November, up 3% from its October production. The firm said much of this was driven by higher network transaction fees but didn’t mention the impact of Ordinals.

Hut 8 completed its merger with United States-based mining firm Bitcoin Corp on Nov. 30 to form Hut 8 Corp, which started trading on the NASDAQ and Toronto Stock Exchange (ticker: HUT) on Dec. 4.

However, the merged entity's exchange debut seemingly stumbled, falling 11.75% and 7.44% on the day, according to Google Finance.

Change in HUT’s share price on the NASDAQ on Dec. 4. Source: Google Finance
Comments

All Comments

Recommended for you

  • Cointime精选 ·

    Meta Selling Compute Does Not Mean AI Demand Is Disappearing. It Means Compute Is Becoming Commoditized.

    Meta Selling Compute Does Not Mean AI Demand Is Disappearing. It Means Compute Is Becoming Commoditized.

  • Whale Transfers 1,133 BTC to Coinbase Prime, Valued at $71.48 Million

    According to Onchain Lens monitoring, a whale transferred 1,133 BTC from Coinbase to Coinbase Prime through an intermediary wallet, valued at $71.48 million.

  • U.S. AI Chip Stocks Decline Before Market Open, Intel Falls Over 3%

    On July 7, U.S. AI chip stocks experienced widespread declines before the market opened. Intel dropped over 3%, while AMD, Qualcomm, and NXP fell more than 2%. TSMC, Broadcom, and Tesla decreased by over 1%, and NVIDIA declined by 0.7%.

  • China's Central Bank Increases Gold Reserves for the 20th Consecutive Month

    As of the end of June, China's gold reserves stood at 75.44 million ounces (approximately 2,346.446 tons), an increase of 480,000 ounces (about 14.93 tons) from the end of May, which reported 74.96 million ounces (approximately 2,331.52 tons). This marks the 20th consecutive month of gold accumulation.

  • China's Foreign Exchange Reserves in June at $341.6262 Billion

    On July 7, China's foreign exchange reserves for June stood at $341.6262 billion, a decrease of $26 billion from the end of May, representing a decline of 0.75%, with expectations set at $343.2 billion.

  • U.S. Storage Stocks Drop Pre-Market, SanDisk and Micron Down Over 4%

    On July 7, U.S. storage concept stocks collectively fell in pre-market trading. Western Digital dropped over 5%, SanDisk and Micron Technology fell over 4%, Seagate Technology declined over 3%, Rambus fell over 2%, and SMI fell over 1%.

  • U.S. Stocks in Optical Communication Sector Drop Pre-Market

    On July 7, stocks in the optical communication sector of the U.S. market collectively fell pre-market. Astera Labs dropped over 4%, while Marvell Technology, Credo Technology, and AXT Inc. fell more than 3%. Tower Semiconductor, MaxLinear, Corning, Applied Optoelectronics, GlobalFoundries, Lumentum, and Qorvo all declined by more than 2%. Coherent, Nokia, Amphenol, and Broadcom dropped over 1%.

  • Pre-market Decline in U.S. Storage Stocks

    In pre-market trading, U.S. storage concept stocks experienced a widespread decline, with Micron Technology falling by 4.8%, SanDisk dropping over 4%, Corning down more than 2%, and Intel decreasing by over 3%.

  • Two Departments: Support for Reinsurance Institutions to Increase Capital and Issue Supplementary Capital Tools

    On July 7, the National Financial Supervision and Administration Bureau and the Shanghai Municipal Government released several measures to accelerate the construction of the Shanghai International Reinsurance Center. Among these measures, they proposed to enhance the quality and efficiency of the reinsurance industry, support reinsurance institutions in increasing capital and expanding shares, and issuing supplementary capital tools to improve the capacity for internal capital accumulation and external capital supplementation, thereby strengthening the reinsurance industry's capabilities. The initiative aims to guide the insurance industry to focus on major national projects, strategic emerging industries, and livelihood security, consolidating insurance and reinsurance underwriting capabilities to enhance risk protection levels. It also supports reinsurance institutions in leveraging their professional technical advantages to assist the insurance industry in reducing risk.

  • Sources: Saudi Arabia Plans to Expand Oil Pipeline to Red Sea, Increasing Capacity by 2 Million Barrels Daily to Bypass Strait of Hormuz

    On July 7, five informed sources revealed that Saudi Arabia is considering expanding the crude oil pipeline capacity to its western coast on the Red Sea, allowing Saudi Arabia and its neighbors to transport more oil without passing through the Strait of Hormuz. This east-west pipeline, built in the early 1980s, has gained strategic importance since the outbreak of the Iran war in February and the disruption of shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. The pipeline can deliver up to 7 million barrels of crude oil per day to the Red Sea port. The CEO of Saudi Aramco stated in May that approximately 2 million barrels are supplied to west coast refineries, while about 5 million barrels are for export. Sources indicate that Saudi Arabia is in preliminary discussions with some neighboring countries regarding the pipeline expansion, aiming to add about 2 million barrels of pipeline capacity per day. It remains unclear whether Aramco's planned expansion involves upgrading existing infrastructure or constructing new pipelines. One source mentioned that the expansion plan also includes a smaller refined oil pipeline. Two sources indicated that the expansion scale could range from 1 million to 2 million barrels per day, with refined oil also being considered. Another source stated that the project would take several years and cost billions of dollars, requiring adjustments to Saudi crude pricing mechanisms.

Daily Must-Read

Popular Activities

RaveDAO at Terra Solis by Tomorrowland: A Female-Led Techno Night Where Web3 Culture Converges

RaveDAO at Terra Solis by Tomorrowland: A Female-Led Techno Night Where Web3 Culture Converges

April 30 - April 30
Dubai

Popular Tags

Cointime
News
Contents
RSS
Company