Riot Platforms Acquires Block Mining, a Kentucky-Based Bitcoin Mining Competitor, for $92.5 Million

This strategic purchase aims to enhance Riot's operational capacity by 16 exahashes per second (EH/s).

Bitcoin mining firm Riot Platforms (NASDAQ:RIOT) announced the acquisition of Block Mining, a Kentucky-based rival, for $92.5 million to boost its operational capacity by 16 exahashes per second (EH/s).

The acquisition deal includes an $18.5 million cash payment and $74 million in Riot common stock, the company said in a press release on Monday. The transaction will immediately increase Riot’s self-mining hashrate by 1 EH/s, ramping up to 16 EH/s by 2025-end.

“With a combined 60 MW of existing developed capacity and a pipeline to rapidly scale to over 300 MW, this acquisition expands our operations and further enhances our path towards our growth target of 100 EH/s,” said Jason Les, CEO of Riot Platforms.

Riot Platforms to also invest an additional $32.5 million through 2025 to boost the power capacity of Block Mining’s two operational sites in Kentucky. The company aims to scale up the infrastructure to support 110 MW for self-mining operations by 2024-end.

Riot shares slid about 5.3% to trade at $11.59 on last check, according to Google Finance. The acquisition also comes after Riot Platforms offered $950 million to acquire another rival, Bitfarms. But the deal collapsed as Riot cited difficulties in engaging with the Bitfarms board and later called for a special shareholder meeting to discuss governance at the Toronto-based firm.