Bitcoin Miner Riot Platforms Is Raising $500 Million to Buy More BTC

Publicly traded Bitcoin mining firm Riot Platforms plans to raise up to $500 million via a private senior convertible notes offering, in an effort to help fund additional Bitcoin (BTC) purchases and other general corporate purposes. 

The offering, which will be made available to “persons reasonably believed to be qualified institutional buyers,” is expected to allow up to an additional $75 million in note purchases beyond the core $500 million offering.

The notes, which are unsecured senior obligations of Riot, will mature on January 15, 2030 unless converted, repurchased, or redeemed earlier. The initial conversion rate and other terms related to the notes will not be revealed until the official offering.

If successful in raising $575 million, Riot Platforms could add about 5,877 Bitcoin to its holdings at today’s Bitcoin price.

As of November 30, the Bitcoin mining company held 11,425 Bitcoin, valued at more than $1.1 billion. The number is up by nearly 1,000 BTC since the firm reported a balance of 10,427 Bitcoin as of September 30, in an unaudited 10-Q filing to the SEC. 

The stash makes Riot Platforms the third largest holder of Bitcoin among publicly traded companies, only behind MicroStrategy and Marathon Digital, both of whom continue to make Bitcoin purchases regularly.

Riot Platforms stock (RIOT) is down by 9% today, as of this writing, at a current price of $11.76, amid a dip in the price of Bitcoin itself; BTC is down about 2% so far today. Despite today’s dip, RIOT is up nearly 73% in the last three months, alongside major gains from other Bitcoin mining firms and publicly traded crypto-centric companies.

The company, which operates Bitcoin mining in Kentucky and Texas, recently reached a settlement on its attempted takeover of another Bitcoin miner, Bitfarms. It produced more than 16 BTC a day with its mining operations in November.

Edited by Andrew Hayward