Riot Platforms expands Kentucky capacity through Block Mining deal

Riot Platforms acquired Block Mining for $92.5 million to expand into Kentucky.

This transaction adds 60 MW of operational capacity with the potential to reach 155 MW. Riot targets 110 MW for self-mining operations through existing agreements. The Kentucky sites consist of two locations. Of the 60 MW of existing capacity, 23 MW supports self-mining and 19 MW remains vacant for immediate deployment. Another 18 MW remains under hosting agreements with Bitcoin mining tenants. Approximately 8 MW of those contracted agreements contains change-of-control provisions that will free capacity for Riot within 60 to 90 days. This expansion provides access to the Tennessee Valley Authority and Big Rivers Electric Corporation in the MISO region. A pipeline exists to develop over 300 MW across three sites in Kentucky.

Riot paid $18.5 million in cash and $74 million in common stock for the acquisition. This brings the total purchase consideration to $92.5 million. Block Mining can earn up to $32.5 million through 2025 via additional power purchase agreements. The Block Mining management team will remain to operate assets and drive expansion. They leverage strong local relationships and a long-term fixed price hash rate agreement with MicroBT.

The acquisition includes a greenfield expansion opportunity adjacent to an existing substation. This opportunity presents a chance to develop 60 MW with the potential to expand to 150 MW.

Hash rate and market comparisons

Riot’s deployed hash rate reached 42.5 EH/s in Q1 2026. This total reflects a 26% increase from the 33.7 EH/s reported in Q1 2025. The company grew its footprint through the Block Mining deal. This transaction added 1 EH/s to Riot’s self-mining hash rate. Growing capacity helps Riot pursue its 100 EH/s target.

Riot produced 1,473 Bitcoins in Q1 2026, averaging 16.4 Bitcoins per day. This production level follows a decrease from the 1,530 Bitcoins produced in Q1 2025. The company holds 15,680 Bitcoins, a significant drop from the 19,223 Bitcoins held in Q1 2025.

Riot’s revenue for the period totaled $674.51 million. This figure compares to $919 million in trailing twelve-month revenue for Marathon Digital. Riot’s gross profit for the period reached $190.60 million, while Marathon Digital reported $616.91 million. Riot’s net income for the period totaled -$1.32 billion, compared to a net income of -$3.46 billion for Marathon Digital. This gap highlights the massive difference in scale between the two firms.

Riot maintains a much more conservative capital structure than Marathon Digital, holding a debt-to-assets ratio of 0.21 compared to the 0.49 ratio seen with its primary competitor during the same period.

You should watch how the 42.5 EH/s hash rate interacts with the 127.45T Bitcoin difficulty.

Network difficulty and operational pressure

Difficulty pressures operators.

When network hashrate rises, one participant’s cut shrinks unless the Bitcoin price increases enough to balance the competition. Riot reported a net income loss of $1.32 billion for the quarter. The company generated $289.5 million in net proceeds from Bitcoin sales, even as production levels varied. Total power credits for the quarter reached $21.0 million. These credits included $7.5 million from demand response programs, which helps mitigate costs.

Riot reported a fleet efficiency of 20.2 J/TH in Q1 2026, an improvement from the 21.0 J/TH reported in Q1 2025. This 4% efficiency gain follows the deployment of new miners.

Riot produced 1,473 Bitcoins.

Can they stabilize cash?

The Bitcoin difficulty reached 127.45T on September 12, 2026. This level reflects a 1.31% increase from the level on August 5, 2026.