In June, the Bitcoin mining enterprise Riot Platforms saw a significant surge in its operational hash rate, marking a 50% increase and aiding in the procurement of 255 Bitcoins (BTC) — a substantial rise of nearly 20% from the previous month. The company’s hash rate soared from 14.7 exahashes per second to 22 EH/s, following the completion of mining equipment installations at its Corsicana site and leveraging extra capacity at the Rockdale Facility.
Jason Les, the CEO of Riot, heralded June as a monumental month in a statement released on July 3. The company not only met but surpassed its mid-year hash rate goal of 21.4 EH/s, with the bulk of miner energization occurring in the final days of June.
Riot opted to retain all the Bitcoin mined in June, amassing a total of 9,334 BTC, valued at approximately $561.6 million at the prevailing market rates. However, the 255 BTC mined, valued at $15.3 million, represented a 45% decrease from the same period last year, a consequence of the halving event that cut the block reward in half on April 20.
Currently positioned as the second-largest Bitcoin miner by hash rate, Riot has overtaken both CleanSpark and Core Scientific, which have reported hash rates exceeding 20 EH/s. Riot now trails only behind Marathon Digital, which boasts a hash rate of 31.5 EH/s.
The hash rate is indicative of the aggregate computational power utilized to process transactions on proof-of-work networks such as Bitcoin. Riot is on course to bolster its self-mining hash rate capacity to 31.5 EH/s by the end of 2024. The company has set an ambitious target of reaching 100 EH/s by 2027 or shortly thereafter, contingent on the full exercise of its option to acquire additional MicroBT units in the future.
A graphical representation of Riot’s projected hash rate growth. Courtesy of Riot Platforms.
In related news, CleanSpark successfully mined 445 Bitcoin in June, surpassing its hash rate objectives. Additionally, Riot monetized $6.2 million in power credits during the same month.
Riot’s stock (RIOT) experienced a slight dip of 1.5% on Wednesday, settling at $9.57 according to Google Finance data. The share price has declined by 37.9% thus far in 2024 and 28.3% over the past year.
A chart depicting the fluctuation in RIOT’s share price over the preceding year. Source: Google Finance.
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