Bitcoin Miner Riot Platforms Buys $510 Million in BTC Following Private Offering

Publicly traded Bitcoin mining firm Riot Platforms has bought more orange coins after raising $525 million via a private senior convertible notes offering.

The company announced earlier this week that it would raise money from private investors as part of a strategy to buy Bitcoin and pay for other general corporate purposes. 

In its latest announcement Friday, the Castle Rock, Colorado-based Riot said it had snapped up 5,117 Bitcoin (BTC) at an average price of $99,669 per coin, including fees, ultimately spending $510 million in the process.

The firm now holds 16,728 BTC, currently valued at approximately $1.69 billion, it added. Bitcoin is trading for $101,170 as of this writing, according to CoinGecko. 

Riot—and other major Bitcoin miners—are following in the footsteps of software company MicroStrategy, which first bought the cryptocurrency in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic to get the best return for shareholders. That Bitcoin treasury reserve strategy is now being tapped by other companies, large and small.

MicroStrategy now uses private offerings and debt to buy more Bitcoin and mostly works to securitize the asset—or make it available to investors so they can buy shares of the company and get exposure to Bitcoin.

MicroStrategy now holds 423,650 BTC, valued at nearly $43 billion, and encourages other companies to buy the cryptocurrency as an inflation hedge. 

Other top American Bitcoin miners are adopting the same strategy to strengthen their balance sheets. MARA, formerly known as Marathon Digital, on Tuesday said it had bought 11,774 Bitcoin for $1.1 billion at an average price of $96,000 per coin. 

Edited by Andrew Hayward