Bitcoin (BTC) miner Riot Platforms produced 215 BTC in May, a 43% decrease from last month.
The decrease in mining revenue is a direct impact of the April 20 Bitcoin halving on the mining industry, which halved the mining rewards to 3.125 BTC.
Anticipating this decline, Riot preplanned an infrastructure upgrade to retain Bitcoin production post-halving.
In May, Riot launched a new Bitcoin mining facility in Corsicana, Texas, which added 3.1 exahashes per second (EH/s), bringing Riot’s total self-mining capacity to 14.7 EH/s — a 17% increase from the previous month.
The mining facility currently operates at 100 megawatts (MW) and will eventually scale up to 1 gigawatt (1,000 MWs) once fully developed.
Infrastructure development for hash rate growth
Riot aims for a total hash rate capacity of 31 EH/s by the end of 2024 and 41 EH/s by 2025. To do this, the company entered into a long-term master purchase agreement with MicroBT, which included an initial order of 33,280 miners for the new facility.
The strategies employed by Riot are devised to ensure profitability, especially during bear markets.
Power and demand response credits
In addition to upgrading to highly efficient mining equipment to lower operational costs, Riot also employed a new strategy, Jason Les, CEO of Riot explained:
“Riot’s unique power strategy, which we typically employ most actively in the summer months, has already started to demonstrate significant results for this year, generating approximately $7.3 million in power and demand response credits in May.”
Related: Bitcoin halving sees Bitfarms’ BTC mining earnings plummet
On May 28, Riot Platforms announced an offer to buy its competitor, Bitfarms, at a significant premium over its share price.
At the time of the offer, Riot was already Bitfarms' largest shareholder, holding a 9.25% stake. The buyout proposal included a combination of cash and common stock, amounting to $950 million in equity value for shareholders, which represents a 24% premium over Bitfarms’ one-month volume-weighted average share price as of May 24.
The offer comes at a time when Bitfarms’ management is in transition as it seeks a new CEO.
Magazine: Crypto voters are already disrupting the 2024 election — and it’s set to continue