Riot Platforms to add 33,000 Bitcoin miners ahead of 2024 halving

Riot Platforms — one of the world’s largest Bitcoin (BTC) mining companies — has bought 33,280 “next-generation” Bitcoin miners for its Texas facility, costing $162.9 million.

The rigs, which were sourced from mining manufacturer MicroBT, will boost the firm’s self-mining capacity by 7.6 exahashes per second (EH/s) and comes “in advance” of Bitcoin’s next halving cycle, which is set to take place in mid-2024.

Riot Purchases 7.6 EH/s of Next Generation Miners from MicroBT, Manufactured in the United States.

Read more in today’s press release: https://t.co/esLToy798H

— Riot Platforms, Inc. (@RiotPlatforms) June 26, 2023

Riot Platforms CEO Jason Les stated on June 26 that the deal will increase the firm’s self-mining capacity to 20.1 EH/s once the machines are installed in the first quarter of 2024:

“These new miners will contribute an additional 7.6 EH/s to Riot’s self-mining capacity when fully deployed and will further enhance our already strong fleet efficiency in advance of the upcoming Bitcoin halving.”

Les added the rigs we built specifically for “immersion cooling systems” such as those used at the firm’s Corsicana Facility.

Of the 33,280 machines, 8,320 are M56S+ models with a hashrate of 220 terahashes per second (TH/s) while the remaining 24,960 M56S++ are slightly more powerful at 230 TH/s.

However, the machines won’t arrive until December and full deployment of the miners won’t be completed until mid-2024.

Riot said it may also purchase an additional 66,560 M56S++ models before December 31, 2024 — which would add 15.3 EH/s to the firm’s self-mining capacity. The firm may choose to exercise this option in whole or in part.

Join our team as they take you through Riot’s production and operations updates for the month of May. Riot produced 676 #Bitcoin and had a deployed hash rate of 10.5 exahash per second.

Hear from Riot’s VP of Research, @BitcoinPierre, as he touches on Riot’s active community… pic.twitter.com/lD3YJVkMct

— Riot Platforms, Inc. (@RiotPlatforms) June 16, 2023

Despite the news, Riot’s share price fell 7.2% to $10.77 on June 26, according to Google Finance.

Related: Buying Bitcoin is preferable to BTC mining in most circumstances — Analysis

Meanwhile, Bitcoin miner Akron Energy also announced on June 21 that it bought a 200MW mining facility in Hannibal, Ohio for an undisclosed amount.

It’s the Sydney-based firm’s first expansion into the United States, which comes following a $26 million raise on June 20.

The firm plans to immediately complete the first design stage of the Hannibal facility, which they hope will provide 100 megawatts (MW) of power.

The hosting services will be provided to the firm’s institutional-scale clients in the Bitcoin industry.

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