Riot Platforms Liquidates 4,300 Bitcoin in Q2 to Finance AI Data Center Expansion

Riot Platforms offloaded 4,300 bitcoin during the second quarter of 2026 to support ongoing operations and finance the growth of its artificial intelligence data center business, as first reported by Yahoo Finance.

The digital asset operator generated 1,587 bitcoin during the three-month period, representing an 11% increase over the 1,426 bitcoin produced in the second quarter of 2025. Despite higher mining production, revenue from bitcoin operations fell 19% year over year to $113.7 million, suppressed by lower average prices for the cryptocurrency. Riot recorded all-in mining expenses of $90,631 per bitcoin, amounting to 126.5% of the coin's average production value of $71,667 during the quarter. Management attributed the higher cost structure to rising electricity prices and continuous expansion efforts at its facility in Kentucky.

Riot reported overall quarterly revenue of $174.2 million, up 14% compared to $153 million in the same period a year earlier. Data center services contributed $23.2 million to total top-line results. However, the business posted a net loss of $237.2 million for the quarter, swinging from net income of $219.5 million recorded during the second quarter of 2025.

Despite the substantial quarterly loss and crypto asset sales, Riot closed the month of June with more than $1.2 billion in total liquid assets. That balance included $548.9 million in cash alongside a remaining treasury holding of 11,380 bitcoin.

The second-quarter asset liquidations represent an acceleration of a broader operational shift. Citing reporting from Financefeeds, Yahoo Finance noted that Riot had previously sold 3,778 bitcoin in the first quarter of 2026, bringing in roughly $289.5 million. The company has framed its financial approach as an effort to balance bitcoin treasury retention against operational and capital expenditures, rather than committing all mined output to long-term holding.

Capital deployment toward physical data center buildouts remains central to that strategy. At its campus in Rockdale, Texas, Riot finalized an initial 25-megawatt facility for semiconductor maker AMD and is currently constructing a second 25-megawatt phase.

Following the end of the second quarter, Riot signed a 20-year deal to supply 191 megawatts of critical IT capacity at the Rockdale facility to frontier AI startup Anthropic. That contract is projected to yield approximately $9.1 billion through June 2048, with extension terms that could elevate total revenue to nearly $16.1 billion.

Combined with its existing AMD agreement, Riot's total contracted critical IT capacity stands at 241 megawatts, representing approximately $9.8 billion in long-term revenue, Chief Executive Officer Jason Les said in a statement. Riot shares have gained 69% over the past year, trading at $19.58.