Michael Saylor hails Riot Platforms as a company on the Bitcoin Standard – Here’s why

Michael Saylor said the Riot company is on the Bitcoin standard, following its decision to offer a substantial amount of its convertible senior notes in a private offering, whose proceeds would be used to buy additional Bitcoin.

According to a recent press release, Riot Platforms, a leading Bitcoin mining and digital infrastructure firm with a market value of $4.3 billion, is planning to hold a private offering of $500 million in convertible senior notes set to mature in 2030. Per the release, the offering will be limited to qualified institutional investors.

Riot reportedly plans to allocate the net proceeds from the offering toward acquiring more Bitcoin and supporting general corporate activities.

MicroStrategy founder Michael Saylor took to X to laud Riot for unveiling its plan to expand its BTC holdings, calling it a “company on the Bitcoin Standard.”

$RIOT is a company on the #Bitcoin Standard. https://t.co/qRJ3JIc0BU

— Michael Saylor⚡️ (@saylor) December 9, 2024

Riot also stated that the unsecured, senior-ranking notes will mature on January 15, 2030, unless repurchased, redeemed, or converted earlier. Starting January 20, 2028, the company has the option to redeem the notes partially or in full for cash, provided at least $50 million in principal remains outstanding.

According to the press release, Riot also intends to provide the initial purchasers of the notes an option to purchase up to an additional $75 million aggregate principal amount of the notes within three days beginning on and including the date on which the notes are first issued. 

Also, the offering is subject to the market and other factors, and no guarantee can be made as to whether, when, or under what terms it will be completed.

Riot Platforms Bitcoin strategy keeps the company financially ‘healthy’

Riot Platforms is seemingly looking to mimic MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin investment policy to buy more BTC alongside its mining operations. As of November 2024, the company held 11,425 Bitcoin, a 55% increase from its year-to-date holdings, per a Stock Titan insight.

During the same month, Riot Platforms announced it had mined 495 Bitcoin, maintaining steady month-over-month output despite a 7% rise in network difficulty. The company’s operational hash rate also grew by 13% compared to the previous month. 

Riot aims to establish itself as the world’s foremost Bitcoin-driven infrastructure platform and continues to lead the industry in vertically integrated Bitcoin mining. With operations on a significant scale, the company projects a self-mining hash rate capacity of 34.9 EH/s by the close of FY2024. 

As of the latest quarter, Riot maintained a strong financial standing, -,Riot Platforms, Inc.,per share a year ago." rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">reporting $590.6 million in working capital, including $355.7 million in cash and $190.1 million in marketable equity securities.

An InvestingPro analysis reveals that Riot currently holds more cash than debt, reflecting a current ratio of 5.68. However, the data also indicates the company is rapidly consuming its cash reserves, although financial analysts project a strong revenue growth rate of 32% for the year.

Meanwhile, Riot Platforms saw its stock price drop by 5.8% to 12.05 pre-market trading, after unveiling plans for a private offering. The company’s shares had faced a rough start in 2024, facing a 19.7% decline within the first six months of 2024. However, in the second half, RIOT has gained by 22%, according to NASDAQ data.

Bitcoin price outlook 

In other news, Bitcoin (BTC) saw a slight intraday decline of 1%, trading at $98,804. Over the last 24 hours, the cryptocurrency fluctuated between a low of $97,986.82 and a high of $101,399.98. 

The crypto had briefly dipped below the $100,000 threshold earlier in the day, continuing its consolidation phase while encountering resistance around the $101,000 level. After reaching a high of $101,267 early in trading, BTC fell to $99,113 before making a small recovery to its current price point. 

Despite recent volatility, Bitcoin has seen a significant gain of nearly 50% since the November 2024 U.S. presidential election but is now trading at $99,000 at press time, down 1.15% over the past 24 hours, per Coingecko data.​

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