Riot Platforms raising $500M to buy Bitcoin amid price surge

Riot Platforms has announced that it proposes to raise $500 million to buy more Bitcoin. The company may conduct a private bond issue for qualified institutional investors. Its decision comes as Bitcoin hovers around its all-time high and other industry heavyweights have made large acquisitions at top price.

Confidence rather than interest

Riot may offer senior convertible notes through private offering memorandums. Purchasers would have the option of buying $75 million more in notes within three days of their initial purchase. The offering will be subject to market conditions, it said. No mention was made of interest payments.

The notes will be unsecured senior obligations. They will have Jan. 15, 2030, maturity date and will be redeemed or converted into Riot common stock at the company’s election. The conversion rate and other terms will be determined at the time of pricing the offering.

Riot will use the funds “to acquire additional Bitcoin and for general corporate purposes.”

Riot held 10,427 Bitcoin (BTC) at the end of the third quarter of the year after producing 1,104 BTC that quarter and selling none. It produced 844 BTC in the previous quarter.

Related: Bitfarms, Riot settle dispute with board changes

Great miners think alike

According to The Miner Mag, seven publicly traded Bitcoin miners and data centers, not counting Riot, have issued convertible bonds since June to raise a total of $5.2 billion. Of that amount, 70% was raised in the last four weeks leading up to Dec. 5.

Source: Michael Saylor

Notable among those offerings was Core Scientific’s $350-million issue in August, which was raised to $400 million the following day.

MARA, formerly Marathon Digital, issued $1 billion in convertible notes on Nov. 21. It intended to use the funds to manage old debt and make Bitcoin purchases. A week later, it said it had acquired 6,474 BTC for a total holding of approximately 34,797 BTC.

On Dec. 9, the same day as Riot’s announcement, MicroStrategy said it had acquired 21,550 BTC for $2.1 billion between Dec. 2 and Dec. 8, paying an average price of $98,783 per BTC.

“I’m confident I’ll be buying Bitcoin at $1 million per coin,” MicroStrategy co-founder and former CEO Michael Saylor said.

Magazine: Bitcoin dominance will fall in 2025: Benjamin Cowen, X Hall of Flame