Riot Sells 4,300 Bitcoin to Fund $9.1 Billion AI Deal

Riot Platforms' pivot from Bitcoin mining to AI/HPC data center leasing has taken a major step forward with a transformative deal valued at $9.1 billion, courtesy of strategic Bitcoin treasury sales.

The company sold 4,300 Bitcoin in the second quarter of 2026 to fund ongoing operations and data center expansion, leaving it with a remaining Bitcoin treasury of 11,380 units worth approximately $666 million at June-end prices.

This significant shift is aimed at addressing the challenging economics of Bitcoin mining itself, where Riot's average cost to mine a single BTC exceeded its production value in the second quarter of 2026. The deal with Anthropic covers 191 MW of IT load over a 20-year term and boasts a base contract value of roughly $9.1 billion, with potential extensions pushing it to $16.1 billion.

The market's immediate reaction was subdued, with Riot's stock trading below its pre-announcement levels after an initial gap-up fade on August 11. Technical indicators show a complex divergence, with medium-term indicators suggesting an uptrend but quantitative composite scores indicating underlying weakness.