Bitcoin Miner Riot Acquires 31,500 'Next Generation' M60S Mining Machines Worth $97.4 Million

Bitcoin miner Riot Platforms Inc. said it expects to take delivery as well as deploy 31,500 Whatsminer M60S miners worth $97.4 million by the end of July 2024. The addition of the new bitcoin mining machines is projected to increase the “self-mining” hashrate capacity of Riot’s Rockdale Facility to 15.1 EH/s.

Replacement of Underperforming Miners

Bitcoin mining firm Riot Platforms Inc. announced on Feb. 27 that it had entered an agreement to purchase 31,500 Whatsminer M60S miners, valued at $97.4 million, from Microbt. From this order, approximately 14,500 next-generation miners are set to be “deployed in available capacity at the Rockdale Facility.”

According to a statement, the remaining 17,000 miners will replace underperforming bitcoin (BTC) miners at the same facility. Delivery of the mining devices is expected in May and June of this year. By the end of July 2024, following the delivery and deployment of all 31,500 miners, the self-mining hashrate capacity of the Rockdale Facility is projected to increase from 12.4 EH/s to 15.1 EH/s.

Remarking on his firm’s purchase of the dual-purpose bitcoin miners, Jason Les, the CEO of Riot Platforms Inc., said:

Through our team’s constant focus on improving operations at our Rockdale Facility, we have identified currently deployed underperforming machines best suited for replacement. Replacing these under-performing miners with the new M60S model will have a positive effect on both our operating uptime and energy efficiency, as these are the most efficient miners ever produced by Microbt.

Les stated that the acquisition of the new batch of miners not only reaffirms Riot’s commitment to low-cost bitcoin mining but also “further enhances its industry-leading fleet into the future.”

Jordan Chen, the COO of Microbt, characterized Riot’s purchase of 31,500 Whatsminer M60S miners as the latest milestone in the bitcoin miner’s “ambitious journey to build a mining fleet of more than 100 EH/s in the coming years.”

According to the statement, the acquired M60S bitcoin miners are the firm’s latest generation of air-cooled machines with an efficiency rating of 18.5 joules per terahash (J/TH). They produce approximately 186 terahash per second (TH/s) per machine.