Riot Blockchain buys Texas data center for $650M from rival Northern Data

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Riot Blockchain (NASDAQ: RIOT) has announced that it’s set to purchase the largest BTC block reward mining center in the United States. It will now reportedly become the largest publicly traded blockchain mining company globally.

Riot revealed in a press release that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Whinstone U.S Inc. from its rival Northern Data AG. It will pay $80 million in cash and $571 million in its common stock, equaling a total transaction value of $651 million.

Riot to Acquire Whinstone, Creating a US-Based Industry Leader in Bitcoin Mining #Bitcoin #riot https://t.co/7fXcOUGqFy

— Riot Platforms, Inc. (@RiotPlatforms) April 8, 2021

Riot CEO Jason Les remarked, “The acquisition of Whinstone is the most significant achievement in Riot’s growth to-date and positions Riot as an industry leader in [BTC] mining. Whinstone will serve as the foundation of Riot’s [BTC] mining operations, upon which we will drive our goal of increasing the American footprint in the global [BTC] mining landscape.”

As per the press release, Whinstone owns the largest block reward mining hosting facility in the U.S. It operates a 100-acre block reward mining site in Rockdale, Texas which has a total power capacity of 750 MW. Additionally, the firm is building an extra 300 MW of power. Its site has a long-term power supply contract with local power producers.

Through the sale, Northern Data AG will now own 12% of the total outstanding Riot common stock. The firm will direct the $80 million in cash it gets from the sale into expanding its current operations.

Aroosh Thillainathan, the Northern Data CEO commented, “By becoming a minority shareholder in Riot going forward, through its equity stake in Riot, Northern Data will be able to benefit from the synergies generated by the transaction and continues to directly participate in the growth of Bitcoin value potential.”

Northern Bitcoin AG merged with Whinstone in 2019 to become Northern Data AG, with Aroosh becoming the CEO of the joint company. Since then, it has sought to diversify from BTC block reward mining to artificial intelligence, IoT and other emerging technologies.

Riot, on its part, has in the past faced legal woes for its rebranding into a blockchain company. A few years back, investors sued the company for its digital currency pivot, claiming the move was purely to manipulate its shares. The company was previously known as Bioptix and focused primarily on biotechnology.

See also: TAAL’s Jerry Chan presentation at CoinGeek Live, The Shift from Bitcoin “Miners” to “Transaction Processors”