Riot Blockchain Files to Sell Up to $500M of Stock

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Bitcoin miner Riot Blockchain (RIOT) filed a prospectus with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for the sale of up to $500 million in shares from time to time, otherwise known as an “at-the-market” (ATM) offering.

• The underwriters are Cantor Fitzgerald, B. Riley Securities, BTIG, Roth Capital Partners, D.A. Davidson, Macquarie Capital (USA) and Northland Securities.

• The company currently has about 116.7 shares outstanding, according to the filing, and if the entire $500 million was offered at the current stock price, the share count would increase by about 20% to almost 140 million.

• That being said, the prospectus is a “shelf” registration, meaning there is no present intention to immediately sell all the securities being registered.

• Riot mainly hodls, or holds, the bitcoins it mines, meaning the company issues equity for occasional capital raises to fund its operations and expansion.

• In a recent presentation, Riot said it held 5,783 bitcoins on its balance sheet as of March 1. That would be worth more than $267 million at the current bitcoin price of $46,200.

• Riot is underperforming most of its crypto mining peers on Friday afternoon, down 2% as the stocks of Marathon Digital (MARA) and Hut 8 (HUT) are posting moderate gains.

Read more: Riot Blockchain Sees 2022 as Year of Consolidation in Bitcoin Mining Sector