Riot Platforms Dumps 475 BTC in April: End of the HODL Era?

Riot Platforms Dumps 475 BTC: Market Shock or Strategic Play?

In April, Riot Platform, the second-biggest cryptocurrency miner that is publicly listed, declared that it was selling Bitcoin. It realized net profits of $38.8 million by selling 475 Bitcoin at an average price of $81,731, according to the declaration made on Monday.

Since Riot Platforms declared its 100% HODL plan in January 2024, the April Bitcoin sales represented the company’s first significant unload. Additionally, throughout its eight-year mining history, it was the biggest Bitcoin liquidation in a single month.

Riot’s BTC Strategy: Mine Less, Sell All, Hold Strong Reserves

Riot reported that it mined 463 Bitcoin in April, a 70 BTC decrease from 533 Bitcoin in March. Nevertheless, it sold every bitcoin that was mined as well as an additional 12 BTC that were in reserve. As of April 30, the top miner had 19,211 Bitcoin valued at $1.8 trillion at the current market price due to the liquidation.

Riot CEO Explains April Slowdown

Riot’s CEO, Jason Les, stated in a statement that accompanied the disclosure that the 13% decrease in Bitcoin mined came after two consecutive difficulty adjustments. The mining difficulty changed twice in April, notably on April 19, when it reached a record-breaking 123.23 trillion at block height 893,088.

Mining difficulty increased by an astounding 8% between March and April as a result of the modification, severely impeding miners’ profitability. Bitcoin is scarcer due to decreased miner output, which affects pricing at constant or higher demand, even though the difficulty has somewhat decreased since the beginning of May.

Riot Sells Bitcoin to Fuel Growth and Secure Balance Sheet Strength

Les further said that the Bitcoin sales were used to pay for continuing expenses related to operations and expansion. Assuming physical assets like the 125 MW power resource, he stated that Riot completed the $185 million purchase of Rhodium Encore at its Rockdale Facility in April.

In order to maintain a solid balance sheet without sacrificing stock strength, Riot decided that Bitcoin sales were its greatest source of funding. The miner will keep an eye on the market and use the resources at its disposal to maintain its company operations and Bitcoin strategy in the interim.

Riot and Marathon Take Opposite Paths in Bitcoin Strategy

Fascinatingly, this tactic works against the strategies used by other publicly traded cryptocurrency miners, such as Marathon Digital (MARA). To put things in perspective, the top cryptocurrency miner by Bitcoin balance recently declared that it was soliciting $2 billion to finance operations and purchase further Bitcoin.

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