Riot Platforms Posts Record Revenue—Yet Still Drowns in $296M Q1 Losses

Bitcoin miner Riot Platforms just pulled off a revenue coup... while somehow burning $296 million in Q1. Wall Street analysts are already sharpening their ’I told you so’ knives.

The irony burns hotter than a mining rig

Record top-line numbers couldn’t save Riot from the double-whammy of Bitcoin’s volatility and its own operating costs. The company mined like crazy—only to prove that in crypto, even ’winning’ can look suspiciously like failure.

Another ’growth story’ bleeding cash

Tell us you’re a crypto company without telling us: posting nine-figure losses between sips of champagne over ’record revenues.’ Meanwhile, traditional finance bros smirk into their spreadsheets—right before buying the dip.

Bitcoin production climbs

Riot produced 1,530 BTC in the first quarter, compared to  1,364 BTC during the same period last year. However, the cost to mine 1 Bitcoin, excluding depreciation, surged 90% year-over-year to $43,808.

The increase was driven primarily by the April 2024 halving of the Bitcoin block subsidy and a 41% increase in the global network hash rate. Meanwhile, Riot’s total cost to mine each Bitcoin, including depreciation, reached $81,109, nearly 87% of the production value.

Bitcoin mining revenue totaled $142.9 million in the first quarter, compared to $71.4 million in the prior-year period. Riot’s average production value per Bitcoin was approximately $93,385, a sharp rise from $52,343 in the first quarter of 2024.

Engineering revenue also showed strong growth, rising to $13.9 million from $4.7 million in the prior year. The increase was driven in part by the acquisition of E4A Solutions, an engineering and fabrication firm brought into Riot’s ecosystem in December 2024.

At the end of the quarter, the company held 19,223 unencumbered Bitcoin, valued at $1.6 billion based on a market price of $82,534 per coin as of March 31. The firm also held $163.7 million in unrestricted cash and a total of $310.3 million in working capital.

Rhodium settlement

In April, Riot acquired Rhodium Enterprises’ hosted mining operations and physical infrastructure at the Rockdale Facility, resolving ongoing litigation and reclaiming 125 megawatts of contracted power for its own use.

The company said the settlement eliminates about $15 million in annual losses associated with Rhodium’s legacy hosting contract and related legal expenses.

Riot CEO Jason Les said:

“This settlement allows us to fully control the Rockdale site’s capacity and immediately improves the financial efficiency of our operations.”

Riot said it is also making significant headway in transitioning the Corsicana Facility into a future AI and high-performance computing (HPC) hub. A feasibility study conducted in March by consultancy Altman Solon concluded that the site’s size, location, and infrastructure make it well-suited for data center tenants.

To that end, Riot is expanding utility connectivity with new fiber lines, increasing water access, and continuing construction on a new substation that will support up to 1 gigawatt (GW) of total power capacity by early 2026.

Riot operates mining facilities in Texas and Kentucky and maintains electrical engineering and fabrication operations in Denver and Houston. The company said it remains focused on becoming the world’s leading Bitcoin-driven infrastructure platform.