Riot plots aggressive hash rate growth via latest MicroBT deal

The company gains the option to buy 265,000 more miners to grow hash rate above 100 EH/s over the long term

article-image

PHOTOCREO Michal Bednarek/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

share

Crypto miner Riot Platforms has bought another 66,000+ machines as part of a deal with MicroBT that could ultimately help the company eclipse 100 exahash per second (EH/s) in mining capacity. 

The buy of MicroBT M66S model machines for $290.5 million is the largest hash rate purchase in Riot’s history, Riot CEO Jason Les said in a statement Monday. It amounts to approximately 18 EH/s of mining capacity.

The Colorado-based miner, which operates mainly in Texas, had 11.7 EH/s of deployed hash rate as of Oct. 31.

Its latest buy comes after Riot made a deal in June with the China-based bitcoin miner manufacturer in June to buy 33,280 machines — the initial order in what the company called a “long-term purchase agreement.”

Read more: Riot inks MicroBT deal to build bitcoin miners in US — not China

The company had secured the option to buy an additional 66,560 machines before the end of 2024. It chose to do so Monday, and it also updated the agreement to include the option to purchase up to 265,000 more MicroBT miners on the same terms as the new order.

Such future purchases would add 75 EH/s to the company’s self-mining capacity, pushing it above 100 EH/s.

Riot bought the 66,560 machines at a cost of $16 per terahash, the company said.

“The price of these future purchase options will not exceed our current order as announced today, giving Riot the ability to more effectively plan future capital requirements and providing protection from potentially higher market prices for miners in the future,” Les said in a statement. 

The crypto mining sector is expected to come under financial stress next year, with the next bitcoin halving — when per-block mining rewards will fall from 6.25 bitcoin (BTC) to 3.125 BTC — slated for April. 

Industry players have made moves of late.

Hut 8 and US Bitcoin Corp finalized their merger last week in a deal executives say helps diversify the business. Another Riot competitor, Marathon Digital, continues to expand geographically and diversify its mining methods.

Like Riot, Bitfarms last week made a big purchase, buying nearly 36,000 Bitmain T21 miners as part of “a transformative fleet upgrade plan.”

“To be a large scale miner you need to be bold and think two steps ahead of your peers who are also your competitors,” Dan Weiskopf, a co-portfolio manager of the Amplify Transformational Data Sharing ETF (BLOK), previously told Blockworks. 


Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter.

Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin. Subscribe to the Forward Guidance newsletter.

Get alpha directly in your inbox with the 0xResearch newsletter — market highlights, charts, degen trade ideas, governance updates, and more.

The Lightspeed newsletter is all things Solana, in your inbox, every day. Subscribe to daily Solana news from Jack Kubinec and Jeff Albus.

Tags

Upcoming Events

Javits Center North | 445 11th Ave

Tues - Thurs, March 18 - 20, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

recent research

Research Report Templates.png

Research

An overview of the Base Ecosystem, with a focus on market leaders.

article-image

Although bitcoin hitting $120k by year’s end is looking unlikely

article-image

About 270 million HYPE has been claimed, valued around $7.6 billion

article-image

Stanford professors David Mazières and Dan Boneh will lead the lab alongside a cohort of graduate student researchers

article-image

With more companies holding BTC, bitcoin yielding strategies could become “a new corporate finance norm,” CoinShares posed

article-image

The proposal comes after Polygon governance considered a controversial use of bridged liquidity for yield

article-image

Can the community balance its decentralized ethos with the need for inclusivity and constructive debate?