A quick look at Q3 results for Riot Blockchain:

  • Increased BTC production by 91% to a record 1,292 coins over the quarter.
  • Increased total revenue by 89% to a record $64.8 million over the quarter.
  • Increased mining revenue margin to 76% from 70% over the quarter.
  • Increased Bitcoin holdings by 58% to a record 3,534 coins over the quarter.
  • Decreased net income by $34.7 million to negative $15.3 million over the quarter.

Profitability

Profitability for Riot over the quarter improved dramatically, ushered by record-shattering growth in Bitcoin production, expanding operations, data center hosting, and efficiency improvements. Riot increased Bitcoin production to 1,292 from 676 coins by deploying over 9,000 Bitmain Antminers during the quarter; Riot’s total fleet now consists of 25,646 miners, generating close to 2.6 million TH/s. Expanding operations turbocharged mining revenue to $53.6 million from $31.5 million last quarter. Data center hosting revenue further boosted revenue by $11.2 million, an increase of 287%, resulting in total revenue of $64.8 million. However, Riot reported a miserable negative $15.3 million in net income, largely due to “non-cash stock-based compensation expense of $36.0 million and a non-cash, unrealized loss of $11.2 million on marketable equity securities.”

Balance Sheet

Riot added 1,291 Bitcoin to its balance sheet by hodling 99.99% of its mined coins. As of quarter-end, the miner held 3,534 coins, an increase of 58% from the previous quarter. On an absolute basis, Riot’s Bitcoin treasury may look trivial, but the holdings represent 15% of its total assets. Further dissecting the balance sheet, the miner holds virtually zero financial debt. Riot has more than enough room to add debt to further expand operations and continue hodling coins.

Production

Riot’s cost of mining revenue (cost directly associated with mining), increased to $13.0 million from $9.3 million, a 40% increase over the quarter. However, as mentioned above, Riot effectively doubled its Bitcoin production, which substantially helped to bring down the cost of producing one Bitcoin to $10,100 from $13,800. Even though the average sales price decreased to $41,486 from $46,524, the fall in production cost benefited margin, which increased to 76% from 70%.

Conclusion

Riot reported strong financial results for the third quarter, and we would expect fourth-quarter results to be, at the very least, on par or substantially better. Bitcoin is trading near its all-time high and if it remains range-bound, miners like Riot should witness a revenue jump. In addition, Riot will continue to expand operational capacity as it receives approximately 10,500 miners from Bitmain in the fourth quarter.