In a statement released today, North American mining company, Riot Platforms, announced its recent acquisition of its rival Bitcoin (BTC) mining firm, Block Mining, a Kentucky based mining outfit. The firm revealed it funded the acquisition with $18.5 million in cash and $74 million in Riot common stock, totaling a sum of $92.5 million. 

Riot Platforms Secured the Acquisition to Grow

As reported by The Block, the company mentioned that the acquisition could immediately increase its current operational capacity by 60 megawatts. The company plans to expand Block Mining’s two sites to reach 110 MW for self-mining operations by the end of 2024. If done, it would raise Riot’s total potential power capacity to 2 gigawatts.

Jason Les, Riot’s CEO, emphasized the essentials of the deal. He said the deal would pave the way for the company to diversify operations nationwide. Majorly, it will speed up Block Mining’s growth in Kentucky. 

“With a combined 60 MW of current developed capacity and a plan to quickly scale to over 300 MW, this acquisition broadens our operations and moves us closer to our growth goal of 100 EH/s. This big move is to boost its mining capabilities and expand operational reach, he stated.

Riot Plans To Dominant The Crypto Mining Industry

The latest purchase by Riot Platforms pushed its ranking to be the second-largest mining company in the United State. This development emerges amidst the ongoing strife between the firm and its counterpart Bitfarms.

It was reported that Riot has been mulling to take over Bitfarms in a hostile attempt. The crypto community and mining experts are quite shocked at the company’s latest achievement. This surprise stemmed from the growth of its energization facility established in the Corsicana, in Texas recently. 

Notably, many the industry experts are in support of Riot’s bold steps and progress. Specifically, Bernstein highlighted in a report from May that Riot was the ideal candidate to lead the consolidation of the Bitcoin mining sector.

Riot Records a Downward Trajectory in Stock Price 

A recent Riot Platforms filing disclosed that the leading Bitcoin miner saw a notable surge of 50% hash rate in its operations in June. This substantial increase allowed it to mine 255BTC. This propelled its operation almost 20% increase from its output in May, where it mined 215 BTC. 

However, it fell short of the 460 BTC earned in June 2023. The company defended that the decline in mined Bitcoin compared to last year is attributed to the impact of the BTC halving event amidst other confluence of factors.  

Also it was reported in February that the Bitcoin miner unveiled a risk catalog to defend its profits index. However, according to Google Finance, Riot’s shares on Nasdaq saw a 5.31% decrease in value on July 23. Also, The company’s stock price has dropped by 24.79% since the start of the year.