Riot Platforms posts $84.4 million loss in Q2 amid 52% decline in Bitcoin production

Bitcoin miner Riot Platforms reported a net loss of $84.4 million for the second quarter, compared to a net loss of $27.4 million during the same period last year.

Despite the financial setback, the company reported $70.0 million in revenue for the quarter, down slightly from $76.7 million in the prior year. The results reflect a challenging environment following the Bitcoin network’s recent ‘halving’ event.

Riot Platforms’ loss per share for the three months ending June 30 stood at $0.32.

Q2 results

The firm’s net loss was driven by a $76.4 million decrease in the fair value of Bitcoin, a non-cash stock-based compensation expense of $32.1 million, and depreciation and amortization of $37.3 million.

The miner also reported a 52% decline in Bitcoin production, which dropped to 844 Bitcoin from 1,775 in the second quarter of 2023. However, Riot Platforms managed to maintain strong gross margins despite the decline with revenue on par with the previous year.

The ‘halving’ event and increased network difficulty contributed to a higher average direct cost to mine Bitcoin, which rose to $25,327 from $5,734 per Bitcoin in the second quarter of 2023.

The company reported $13.9 million in power credits for the quarter, including $4.4 million from demand response programs, which helped reduce its average energy cost.

Riot ended the second quarter with $646.5 million in working capital, including $481.2 million in cash on hand, and held 9,334 unencumbered Bitcoin, valued at approximately $585.0 million.

Looking ahead, Riot Platforms anticipates achieving a total self-mining hash rate capacity of 36 EH/s by the end of 2024 and increasing its 2025 deployed hash rate guidance from 40 EH/s to 56 EH/s.

Expansion

Riot CEO Jason Les highlighted the company’s achievements, including the successful energization of its second large-scale facility in Corsicana, Texas. The facility added two buildings with a total capacity of 200 megawatts (MW), with the remaining two buildings expected to be operational by the end of 2024.

Additionally, Riot expanded operations at its Rockdale Facility and nearly doubled its installed hash rate to 22 exahashes per second (EH/s) by the end of the quarter.

In July, Riot Platforms further strengthened its growth pipeline by acquiring Block Mining Inc., a vertically integrated Bitcoin miner in Kentucky. The acquisition brought 60 MW of power capacity across two facilities, with potential expansion to over 300 MW by the end of 2025.

The…