On May 1, 2024, Bitcoin mining firm Riot Platforms published its 2024 first-quarter financial results report, revealing a net income of $211.8 million—a 1,000% increase from last year.
The company’s success was driven by a 55.4% spike in mining revenue, reaching $74.6 million, primarily fueled by a 131% surge in Bitcoin’s price.
However, despite these impressive figures, Riot fell short of analyst revenue estimates. The firm reported a total revenue of $79.3 million, 14% below the expectations.
The company attributed the slower-than-expected revenue growth to lower Bitcoin production and higher mining costs. These challenges arose from the increasing difficulty and hash rate of Bitcoin’s network, resulting in a 36% decrease in BTC mined compared to the first quarter of 2023. Notably, Bitcoin miners are still adjusting to the aftermath of the recent halving event on April 20, which reduced mining rewards from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC.
Riot’s average cost to mine 1 BTC also rose significantly to $23,000, a 144% increase from the previous year, largely due to an 89% rise in the global network hash rate.
Despite these hurdles, Riot Platforms remains optimistic about its future prospects. The company recently announced the development of a new facility in Corsicana, Texas, which CEO Jason Les believes will become the world’s largest dedicated Bitcoin mining facility once fully operational.
The Bitcoin miner is also on track to increase its hash rate capacity from 12.4 exahashes per second (EH/s) to 31 EH/s by the end of 2024. The company noted it aims to reach a hash rate of 41 EH/s by 2025 and has set a long-term goal of achieving 100 EH/s by 2027 or shortly thereafter.
According to the Hashrate Index, Riot Platforms currently holds the third-largest hash rate among miners, trailing only Marathon Digital and Core Scientific, with hash rates of 24.7 EH/s and 16.9 EH/s, respectively.
Meanwhile, despite a 2.87% drop in price on May 1 to $9.82, Riot’s shares saw a 1.1% increase in after-hours trading, according to Google Finance.
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