US-based Riot Blockchain generated 740 BTC last month, an increase of 62% compared to January 2022 and a new monthly high for the company.
The positive start to the year contrasted with disappointing production levels and shrinking profits at the end of 2022.
Hit the ATH
Despite problems with its mining fleet, Riot produced a record amount of bitcoin in January – 740 bitcoins. CEO Jason Leigh revealed that recent winter storms in Texas damaged the Rockdale facility, reducing hash rate capacity.
“Repairs have continued in both buildings and we have successfully brought Building F back online, which equates to 0.6 EH/s of affected hash rate capacity.
We are grateful for the progress our team has made, despite the challenging weather conditions, and we are evaluating several options to introduce approximately 1.9 EH/s hash rate capacity that is still impacted in Terminal G,” he confirmed.
Severe weather conditions will likely prevent Riot’s goal of reaching total hash rate capacity of 12.5 EH/si in the first quarter of 2023.
Riot used the bitcoin price rally in recent weeks as an opportunity to sell 700 bitcoins for about $13.7 million. At the end of January, it had 6,978 BTC, which is equivalent to more than $160 million (calculated at current prices).
Its total fleet consists of 82,656 miners, with a hash rate of 9.3 EH/s. Over 17,000 machines are currently closed as a result of the blizzard.
In addition to the positive results, Riot has announced that it is expanding its team with new members. This contrasts with the constant flight of layoffs prevalent in the sector.
Major players in the industry, including Coinbase, Bybit, Kraken, and Gemini, have laid off some of their employees. Riot’s competitor — Core Scientific — has also cut its workforce, but not by enough to prevent that archive For bankruptcy protection a few days before Christmas.
Bear market and heat wave 2022
Riot’s downfall began last year in July when that happened broken Just 318 BTC, down 28% from the previous month. The main factor behind this setback was the extremely hot weather in Texas, with temperatures soaring above 40 degrees Celsius.
Riot and several other miners temporarily suspended activities to prevent serious problems to the local power grid and possible blackouts.
Rising electricity costs and the cryptocurrency market crash in Q3 2022 spelled more problems for the company. the published A quarterly net loss of over $36 million, while revenue generated was $46.3 million, 28% lower than the previously estimated $54.2 million.
Riot Mined’s all-time high of 740 BTC in January posted first on CryptoPotato.