Riot Blockchain Bitcoin production drops 28% YOY in July; offsets energy costs by curtailing some operations

Riot Blockchain, one of the world’s largest Bitcoin mining companies, said Aug. 3 that it mined 318 Bitcoin (BTC) in July, a decrease of around 28.21% compared to the same month in 2021 when it mined 443 BTC.

The mining firm attributed the decrease in mining to the curtailment of some operations due to the increasing energy demand in Texas last month owing to a heat wave. According to the National Weather Service’s Houston-Galveston, Texas saw its hottest July on record last month, Houston Public Media reported.

But the curtailment also reduced the company’s power cost and helped Riot Blockchain gain an estimated $9.5 million in power credits, which will be credited against its energy bills, the firm said.

Riot CEO Jason Les said:

“As energy demand in ERCOT reached all-time highs this past month, the Company voluntarily curtailed its energy consumption in order to ensure that more power would be available in Texas.”

Les added that Riot curtailed 11,717-megawatt hours in July, enough to power 13,121 average homes for one month. He also said that the reduction in energy cost and the power credits it gained significantly outweighed the reduction in mined Bitcoin. In fact, Les expects that the power credits will effectively eliminate the firm’s July energy costs.

Riot Blockchain sold 275 Bitcoins last month, earning net proceeds of around $5.6 million, and held 6,696 BTC at the end of July.

Riot said the reduction in Bitcoin mining was also partially affected by the relocation of its miners from Coinmint’s facility to its Whinstone Facility in Rockdale, Texas. The relocation resulted in around 12,146 miners being offline.