Riot Blockchain Mined 28% Less Bitcoin in July as Heat Wave Cut Power Supply

Riot Blockchain (RIOT), one of the largest bitcoin miners, said it produced 318 bitcoins in July, 28% fewer than in the year-earlier month, as it shut some operations to accommodate the high energy demand during a heatwave in Texas.

The miner gained $9.5 million in power credits and other benefits from the curtailment.

“As energy demand in ERCOT [Electric Reliability Council of Texas] reached all-time highs this past month, the company voluntarily curtailed its energy consumption in order to ensure that more power would be available in Texas,” CEO Jason Les said in a statement.

Several bitcoin miners temporarily halted mining operations as energy demand soared in July due to heat waves that swept through the U.S., particularly in Texas. Riot curtailed 11,717 megawatt hours in July, enough to power 13,121 average homes for a month, Les said, adding that it lowered power costs for the company.

Riot said it also relocated miners that were hosted with Coinmint to Riot’s Whinstone Facility in Rockdale, which resulted in about 2,146 miners being offline.

Keeping up with its strategy to monetize some of the bitcoins it mines, Riot sold 275 bitcoins in July, generating $5.6 million. The miner currently holds about 6,696 bitcoins.

Riot said its current hashrate, or mining power capacity, is 4.2 exahash per second (EH/s) and expects total self-mining hashrate to climb to 12.5 EH/s by the first quarter of 2023. In comparison, Riot’s competitor, Marathon Digital (MARA), said it will reach a hashrate capacity of 23.3 EH/s in 2023.

The shares of the miner have fallen about 65% this year, outpacing bitcoin’s slump of about 50%. Riot’s stock rose about 7% on Wednesday.

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