Bitcoin Miner Riot Platforms Gets $100M Credit Facility From Coinbase

12 hours ago 8

In brief

Riot Platforms established a $100 million credit facility via Coinbase Credit.
The Bitcoin mining firm will use the funds to fuel key strategic initiatives.
A portion of its Bitcoin treasury was used to secure the facility.

Publicly listed Bitcoin miner Riot Platforms has secured a credit facility of up to $100 million from Coinbase Credit, the lending arm of the U.S.-based crypto exchange giant.

The Bitcoin-backed facility is secured by a portion of Riot Platforms’ Bitcoin holdings and will be used to "pursue key strategic initiatives.”

“Riot has entered into its first bitcoin-backed facility, which provides us with non-dilutive funding at an attractive cost of financing,” Riot CEO Jason Les said in a statement. “This credit facility is a key part of our efforts to diversify sources of financing to support our operations and strategic growth initiatives.”

Decrypt reached out to Riot for details about what those key strategic initiatives may be, but did not immediately receive a response.

Any amount borrowed by Riot is subject to annual interest equal to 4.5% plus the federal funds rate upper limit or 3.25%, whichever is higher.

The miner is not the only publicly traded Bitcoin miner to make use of Coinbase’s credit facilities. Hut8 borrowed $50 million back in 2023 and recently announced that it restated and amended its credit facility with Coinbase in January, increasing the principal amount $15 million to $65 million in total.

“Coinbase's financing capabilities have been an important service for our institutional client base since we launched them in 2020,” a spokesperson for Coinbase Institutional told Decrypt. “From corporates and miners, hedge funds, active traders and liquidity providers—even our [high net worth] franchise—we see demand for financing only growing, and as such it's a critical component of Coinbase's institutional offering and strategy.”

After falling alongside other Bitcoin mining stocks in what was the “worst month ever” for shares of publicly traded miners, shares of RIOT closed up 5.34% today at $7.50.

However, Riot shares are still down more than 36% over the last year of trading.

Riot Platforms ranks third among publicly traded companies that hold Bitcoin on their balance sheet, holding 19,223 BTC, worth nearly $1.8 billion at current prices.

Shares of COIN were up 2.53% on the day to $194.80, though Coinbase shares are also down 17.6% over the last 12 months.

Edited by Sebastian Sinclair