Riot Platforms (RIOT) Sells $200M in Bitcoin to Fuel Aggressive AI Data Center Expansion

Riot Platforms just made a $200 million bet against its own treasury—and Wall Street is watching.

The Bitcoin mining giant announced it's liquidating a chunk of its digital gold reserves to pour concrete and silicon into artificial intelligence infrastructure. This isn't just a pivot; it's a strategic cannonball into the deep end of the compute arms race.

From Crypto Miner to AI Power Broker

Riot's move signals a fundamental shift. The company is leveraging its existing strengths—massive energy contracts and industrial-scale facilities—to repurpose its footprint. Instead of just solving cryptographic puzzles, those same data halls could soon be training the next generation of large language models.

The math is compelling. AI compute demand is exploding, while the Bitcoin mining reward halving cycle continues to squeeze margins. By diversifying into AI, Riot isn't abandoning crypto; it's building a revenue hedge. The $200 million from the Bitcoin sale provides the dry powder to accelerate construction without taking on burdensome debt.

A Calculated Gamble on the Future of Compute

This isn't charity work. The AI data center market is projected to be worth over $200 billion by 2028. Riot is positioning itself to capture a slice of that pie by offering 'co-location' services to hyperscalers and AI startups desperate for capacity.

The playbook is clear: use the proven infrastructure model of Bitcoin mining to bootstrap a more diversified, future-proof business. It's a capital reallocation that reads like a Silicon Valley pitch deck—funded by the very asset some skeptics said had no intrinsic value.

The market's reaction will be the ultimate judge. For now, Riot is trading its digital store of value for physical assets that power the world's most valuable algorithms. In a twist that would make a traditional financier's head spin, they're selling Bitcoin to buy into the AI bubble—proving that in modern tech, the best hedge is sometimes a strategic contradiction.

TLDR

• Riot Platforms sold 2,201 bitcoin in November and December 2025, generating approximately $200 million in proceeds
• The sales reduced Riot’s bitcoin holdings to 18,005 BTC, down from 19,324 BTC in October
• VanEck analyst suggests the proceeds will fund Phase 1 of Riot’s Corsicana AI data center, targeting completion in Q1 2027
• The bitcoin sales mark a shift from 2024 when Riot sold no bitcoin and added over $500 million to its treasury
• Multiple bitcoin mining companies including CleanSpark, MARA, and Bitfarms are pivoting toward AI data center operations

Riot Platforms sold 2,201 Bitcoin during the final two months of 2025, netting the Colorado-based mining company nearly $200 million. The sales included 1,818 BTC worth $161.6 million in December and 383 BTC valued at $37 million in November.

Riot Platforms, Inc., RIOT

The transactions dropped Riot’s bitcoin balance to 18,005 BTC by year-end. At current prices around $92,500, those holdings are worth approximately $1.65 billion. This places Riot among the top 10 publicly traded companies by bitcoin holdings.

The end-of-year selloff represents a major strategy change for Riot. In 2024, the company sold zero bitcoin. Instead, it added more than $500 million worth of BTC to its treasury throughout that year.

Riot’s October balance sheet showed 19,324 BTC. The recent sales cut that figure by more than 1,300 coins. The company now holds just 293 BTC more than it did at the end of 2024.

Funding the AI Pivot

Matthew Sigel, head of digital assets research at VanEck, connected the bitcoin sales directly to Riot’s infrastructure plans. He stated the $200 million roughly equals the entire capital expenditure for Riot’s first 112 megawatt Core build at its Corsicana facility.

The Corsicana AI data center is targeting completion of Phase 1 in the first quarter of 2027. Sigel noted that one winter of bitcoin sales essentially funds the entire first phase of what he called the company’s “AI data center pivot.”

Earlier in 2025, when Riot sold bitcoin, the CEO said proceeds WOULD fund ongoing growth and operations. The company’s third-quarter earnings presentation revealed a “power-first strategy” where bitcoin mining serves as a tool to monetize the power portfolio before full data center development.

Riot’s long-term approach focuses on maximizing the power it generates. The company stated its bitcoin mining strategy has evolved. The ultimate goal is fully converting its megawatts to data center use.

Industry-Wide Shift

Sigel argued that bitcoin and the AI trade are becoming increasingly linked. He pointed out that miners have been among the largest marginal sellers of BTC. This happens especially when they need to fund AI-related capital expenditures during tight credit conditions.

The analyst suggested this pattern could be one factor behind bitcoin’s price decline during 2025. Bitcoin recently traded around $92,500, down 1.2% from previous levels.

Riot isn’t alone in pivoting toward AI infrastructure. CleanSpark and MARA have both announced strategic shifts in recent months. Bitfarms went further, stating it will completely wind down bitcoin mining operations to focus exclusively on AI.

Cipher Mining and Hut 8 have signed billion-dollar AI deals backed by Google. The tech giant is supporting these mining companies’ transitions into data center operations. The trend shows how mining firms are repositioning themselves in the market.

Riot shares closed Tuesday’s trading session up 1.3%. The stock has jumped more than 23% over the last six months. Shares currently trade at $14.98.

Bitcoin gained nearly 6% over the last week. The cryptocurrency recently changed hands at $92,773 per coin.