In a document filed Thursday with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Bitcoin (BTC) mining company Riot Blockchain announced that it would sell up to $500 million in common stock to fund general operating expenses, such as working capital, repayment of corporate liabilities, capital expenditures and acquisitions, and investments in existing and future projects.
Following the offering, the company would have more than 139 million shares of common stock, giving it a market cap of nearly $3 billion at Friday’s prices. The company is authorized to issue a total of 170 million shares of common stock.
RIOT’s share price has seen volatility over the past 12 months. Source: TradingView
Currently, Riot Blockchain operates a fleet of Antminers manufactured by Bitmain Technologies. The company expects its Bitcoin miners to grow to more than 80,000 by the fourth quarter of 2022. Riot Blockchain predicts that its mining power will grow to about 7.7 exahash per second by then, which is theoretically account for 3.8% of the total hash rate of the Bitcoin network. The mining facilities are concentrated at the company’s Whinstone facility in Rockdale, Texas, possibly because of the state’s cheap electricity costs.
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Last October, Riot Blockchain said it was tripling its Bitcoin production year-over-year, hoarding $194 million worth of BTC at the time. However, the company’s production took a big hit in February when it briefly shut down 99% of its operations as a winter storm approached Texas. At the end of 2021, Riot Blockchain owned nearly $834.6 million in material book value, mainly due to its factories, properties and mining equipment.