Riot Platforms Reports Significant Q2 Loss Amid Halving Impact

Riot Platforms, a Bitcoin mining company, reported a significant loss in Q2, impacted heavily by the April halving event.

The company faced a net loss of $84.4 million, or $0.32 per share, which was twice the $0.16 per share loss predicted by Zacks. This is the first quarterly loss Riot has experienced since the end of 2022.

A major factor in the increased loss was a sharp rise in selling, general, and administrative costs, which jumped to $61.2 million from the previous $41.4 million. Revenue dropped by 8.75% year-over-year to $70 million, slightly below Zacks’ forecasts, due to a decline in engineering revenues, though this was partially offset by gains in Bitcoin mining revenue.

Bitcoin production fell by 52%, with Riot mining 844 BTC in Q2, mainly due to the halving event. The cost of mining a single Bitcoin soared by 340% from $5,734 to $25,327, driven by the halving and a 68% increase in the network’s hash rate.

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Despite these hurdles, Riot saw a 12% rise in Bitcoin mining revenue, supported by a near doubling in Bitcoin’s price from June 2023 to June 2024. The company also nearly doubled its installed hash rate to 22 exahashes per second in Q2 and aims to reach 36 EH/s by year-end.

Riot stepped up its acquisition strategy by purchasing approximately 10 million additional shares in July, following an unsuccessful $950 million bid to acquire Bitfarms in June. Riot acknowledged that further negotiations with Bitfarms’ board were not feasible.

Alexander Stefanov