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Riot Blockchain, Inc. (NASDAQ: RIOT) (“Riot” or “the Company”), an industry leader in Bitcoin (“BTC”) mining and data center hosting, announces unaudited production and operations updates for August 2022.
Bitcoin Production and Operations Updates
- In August 2022, Riot produced 374 BTC, a decrease of approximately 15% as compared to August 2021 production of 441 BTC, while significantly reducing overall power costs through effective employment of its proprietary power strategy.
- Riot earned an estimated $3.0 million in power credits as a result of curtailment activity, to be credited against its power invoices; the $3.0 million in power credits equates to approximately 136 BTC, computed by using the August 2022 average daily closing BTC price of $22,097.
- As of August 31, 2022, Riot held approximately 6,720 BTC, all produced by the Company’s self-mining operations.
- In August 2022, Riot sold 350 BTC, generating net proceeds of approximately $7.7 million.
- Riot currently has a deployed fleet of 46,658 miners, with a hash rate capacity of 4.8 exahash per second (“EH/s”).
“August was another successful month for Riot in which we continued to make significant progress on the expansion of our Rockdale facility, including the deployment of an additional 6,347 S19j Pros in our immersion-cooled buildings, and producing Bitcoin while further contributing to grid stability in Texas through the continued exercise of our proprietary power strategy,” said Jason Les, CEO of Riot. “The significant benefits received in August from this strategy enhance our already industry-leading position as a low-cost producer, and further strengthen our solid financial position, providing us with ample resources to fund our compelling growth opportunities as we drive Riot towards our vision of becoming the world’s leading Bitcoin-driven platform.”
Mining Deployment and Shipment Update
Since its last monthly update, Riot received an additional 9,326 new S19j Pros and deployed 6,347 S19j Pros in its immersion-cooled buildings, with an additional 6,336 miners staged for deployment. Additionally, shipments of 10,193 S19j Pros have been initiated out of Bitmain Technologies Limited (“Bitmain”) and are expected to be received during September 2022. Upon deployment of the staged miners, the Company expects to have a total of 52,994 miners deployed with a hash rate capacity of approximately 5.4 EH/s.
Infrastructure Update
Throughout the month of August, Riot’s engineering and construction teams worked to advance the digital infrastructure expansion project at Riot’s Rockdale Facility.
Interior construction is nearing completion in Buildings D and E, Riot’s newest two air-cooled buildings. In Building D, engineers are working to complete installation of Riot’s and ESS Metron’s custom designed air-cooling rack system. Louvers that provide and maintain proper airflow in the structure have been installed. Testing of the medium voltage transformers is completed in Building E.
Building F, Riot’s first immersion-cooling building, continues to operate successfully. The Company’s second immersion-cooling building, Building G, water cooling system is now 95% complete as additional dry-coolers and water pumps have been installed. Miner deployments continue in Building G, and additional miners have been placed and await deployment.
Estimated Hash Rate Growth
By Q1 2023, Riot anticipates a total self-mining hash rate capacity of 12.5 EH/s, assuming full deployment of approximately 115,450 Antminer ASICs, but excluding any potential incremental productivity gains from the Company’s utilization of 200 MW of immersion-cooling infrastructure. Substantially all of Company’s self-mining fleet will consist of the latest generation S19 series miner model. In addition to the Company’s self-mining operations, Riot hosts approximately 200 MW of institutional Bitcoin mining clients.
Human Resources
The Company is pleased to announce the hiring of Frank Durant, as Vice President of Field Operations at Ferrie Franzmann Industries, LLC (d/b/a ESS Metron) (“ESS Metron”), a wholly owned subsidiary of Riot. Mr. Durant’s expertise is in the areas of safety, finance, grid technology, renewable energy, and system operations. Mr. Durant’s reputation is well developed and has been recognized throughout his career as a leader in the energy industry. The Company believes his knowledge and extensive experience will contribute to additional growth and expansion of new service opportunities at ESS Metron.
Conference Schedule
Riot will be presenting at the following upcoming conferences:
- HC Wainwright & Co. Global Investment Conference held in New York, NY on September 12th – 14th.
- Fidelity Investment Conference held in Boston, MA on September 14th.
- BTIG 2nd Annual Digital Assets Conference held virtually on September 19th – 20th
- TXU Energy Summit held in Arlington, TX on September 27th.
- Crypto Mining Day hosted by Bank of America, held virtually on September 29th.
- B. Riley Securities 2nd Annual Crypto Conference held virtually on September 29th.
- YTexas Summit held in Arlington, TX on September 30th.