Riot Platforms Cashes In on Bitcoin Rally With $200M Year-End Sales

Riot Platforms is using Bitcoin (BTC) sales to help finance its shift toward data centers and artificial intelligence, after cutting its BTC holdings late in the year.

In its December production and operations report, the miner said it sold 2,201 BTC across November and December, generating nearly US$200 million (AU$306 million) in net proceeds. Riot ended 2025 with 18,005 BTC, which it valued at about US$1.65 billion (AU$2.5 billion) at current prices, placing it among the 10 largest public-company Bitcoin holders.

The sales meaningfully reduced its treasury versus earlier in the quarter. Riot reported 19,324 BTC at the end of October, implying a decline of 1,319 BTC into year-end. Its ending balance was also only 293 BTC higher than the prior year’s level. That approach contrasts with 2024, when Riot sold no Bitcoin and instead added more than US$500 million (AU$765 million) worth to its holdings.

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Financing The Future

VanEck’s head of digital assets, Matthew Sigel, linked the sale size to Riot’s planned capital spend for the first phase of its 112-megawatt buildout at Corsicana, which the company is targeting for completion in Q1 2027, framing the disposals as a way to fund the initial step of an AI data-center pivot. 

Riot has been positioning that pivot as part of a “power-first strategy,” treating Bitcoin mining as a way to monetise its power capacity ahead of converting more megawatts to data center use. 

The shift mirrors a broader trend among listed miners expanding into AI or cloud infrastructure. For example, Bitcoin miner MARA saw a surge in revenue after expanding its services to AI datacenters. 

Many other peers are signaling similar moves and some are planning to scale back mining to prioritise data center development, or do both.

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