Castle Rock, CO, March 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Riot Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ: RIOT) (“Riot” or “the Company”), an industry leader in Bitcoin (“BTC”) mining and data center hosting, announces unaudited production and operations updates for February 2023. 

Bitcoin Production and Operations Updates for February 2023

• Riot produced 675 BTC, an increase of approximately 55% as compared to February 2022 production of 436 BTC.
• Riot held approximately 7,058 BTC as of February 28, 2023, all produced by the Company’s self-mining operations. 
• Riot sold 600 BTC, generating net proceeds of approximately $14.2 million. 
• Riot had a deployed fleet of 87,264 miners, with a hash rate capacity of 9.8 exahash per second (“EH/s”), as of February 28, 2023, which excludes 17,040 miners that are offline as a result of damage to Building G from the severe winter weather in late December in Texas. 

“February was another month of operational excellence for Riot, during which we produced 675 Bitcoin in the shortest month of the year, and despite one of the largest increases in mining difficulty in recent history,” said Jason Les, CEO of Riot. “We have also continued to make progress on repairs to our immersion buildings, including Building G, where we now anticipate a return to full operations by the second half of 2022. Once achieved, this will bring back 1.9 EH/s of hash rate currently offline and not included in our reported hash rate capacity.”  

“I remain extremely excited about the future growth plans for Riot and our team’s ability to consistently work towards achieving our company’s vision to become the leading Bitcoin-driven infrastructure platform.” 

Mining Deployment and Shipment Update

During the month of February, Riot deployed 4,608 S19-series miners, and ended the month with approximately 2,304 miners staged for deployment. Upon deployment of the staged miners, the Company expects to have a total of 89,568 miners deployed with a hash rate capacity of approximately 10.1 EH/s (which excludes 17,040 mines currently offline in Building G).  

Infrastructure Update

The Company’s construction team continues to install wall louvers and water frames in Building E, while electrical teams continue to run electrical testing and deploy miners, with full completion of the building expected by early Q2 2023. 

In Buildings F and G, efforts are focused on restoring the damage done to the dry-cooling systems by the winter storm in Texas in late December. Building F was brought back online earlier this year and is expected to return to full operational capacity in early Q2 2023, while in Building G, we are implementing repairs and replacing several dry coolers, which we anticipate will enable us to restore full operational capacity in the second half of 2023.  

Estimated Hash Rate Growth

Due to the ongoing impact of damage incurred to Buildings F and G during the severe winter storms in Texas in late December, Riot now anticipates achieving a total self-mining hash rate capacity of 12.5 EH/s in the second half of 2023. 

Human Resources

The Company is pleased to announce the hiring of Robert Wilberger as Head of Operations at ESS Metron, a wholly owned subsidiary of Riot. Mr. Wilberger is responsible for overseeing engineering and manufacturing operations and strategizing techniques to enhance productivity and efficiency across the department. Mr. Wilberger’s knowledge and experience will contribute to formulating strategy and operation objectives at ESS Metron. 

Riot is currently recruiting for positions across the Company. Join our team in building, expanding, and securing the Bitcoin network. Open positions are available at:  https://riotplatforms.com/careers.

Conference Schedule 

Riot will be presenting at the following upcoming conferences: 

• Empower Conference held in Houston, TX on March 8th – 9th.  
• 34th Annual Roth Conference held in Dana Point, CA on March 13th – 15th. 
• DC Blockchain Summit 2023 held in Washington D.C. on March 21st.   

About Riot Platforms, Inc.

Riot’s (NASDAQ: RIOT) vision is to be the world’s leading Bitcoin-driven infrastructure platform.

Our mission is to positively impact the sectors, networks and communities that we touch.  We believe that the combination of an innovative spirit and strong community partnership allows the Company to achieve best-in-class execution and create successful outcomes.

Riot is a Bitcoin mining and digital infrastructure company focused on a vertically integrated strategy. The Company has Bitcoin mining data center operations in central Texas, Bitcoin mining operations in central Texas, and electrical switchgear engineering and fabrication operations in Denver, Colorado.

For more information, visit www.riotplatforms.com.

Safe Harbor

Statements in this press release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements that reflect management’s current expectations, assumptions, and estimates of future performance and economic conditions. Such statements rely on the safe harbor provisions of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Because such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Words such as “anticipates,” “believes,” “plans,” “expects,” “intends,” “will,” “potential,” “hope,” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements may include, but are not limited to, statements about the benefits of acquisitions, including financial and operating results, and the Company’s plans, objectives, expectations, and intentions. Among the risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from those expressed in forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to: unaudited estimates of Bitcoin production; our future hash rate growth (EH/s); the anticipated benefits, construction schedule, and costs associated with the Navarro site expansion; our expected schedule of new miner deliveries; our ability to successfully deploy new miners; M.W. capacity under development; we may not be able to realize the anticipated benefits from immersion-cooling; the integration of acquired businesses may not be successful, or such integration may take longer or be more difficult, time-consuming or costly to accomplish than anticipated; failure to otherwise realize anticipated efficiencies and strategic and financial benefits from our acquisitions; and the impact of COVID-19 on us, our customers, or on our suppliers in connection with our estimated timelines. Detailed information regarding the factors identified by the Company’s management which they believe may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements in this press release may be found in the Company’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), including the risks, uncertainties and other factors discussed under the sections entitled “Risk Factors” and “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” of the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021, as amended, and the other filings the Company makes with the SEC, copies of which may be obtained from the SEC’s website, www.sec.gov. All forward-looking statements included in this press release are made only as of the date of this press release, and the Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any such forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that subsequently occur, or of which the Company hereafter becomes aware, except as required by law. Persons reading this press release are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements.