Share this article
Riot Platforms Is Best Suited to Consolidate Bitcoin Mining Sector: Bernstein
The company has the financial capacity to consolidate the bitcoin mining space, the report said.
Updated May 29, 2024, 4:59 p.m. Published May 29, 2024, 10:49 a.m.
- Riot has the financial capacity to consolidate the bitcoin mining space, the report said.
- The broker said it expects the U.S. bitcoin mining space to consolidate to around five large players.
- Bernstein said the larger miners should ramp up their M&A game to maintain strategic relevance.
Riot Platforms (RIOT) is the most ambitious bitcoin miner to attempt to consolidate the sector, and the company has a desire to build the world’s largest publicly listed mining company, broker Bernstein said in a research report on Tuesday.
The Colorado-based company has the financial capacity to consolidate the mining space as it has no debt and more than $1.3 billion of cash and bitcoin on its balance sheet, the report said.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
Riot is trying to acquire rival bitcoin miner Bitfarms (BITF), after buying a 9.25% stake in the company. The miner has offered to buy all the outstanding shares in BITF for $2.30, the company said on Tuesday.
“The bitcoin mining business is becoming tougher for smaller players, with limited capital to ramp up on the global hash power race,” analysts Gautam Chhugani and Mahika Sapra wrote.
Bernstein says it expects the bitcoin mining sector in the U.S. to consolidate to about five large players who will control substantial capacity. It noted that there are more than 20 publicly listed miners at present.
“If power becomes the biggest constraint to scale up artificial intelligence (AI) computation, we see bitcoin miners as a strategic asset controlling power, land and with significant operating capabilities in running data centers,” the authors wrote.
The broker notes that smaller miners are seeing competitive interest from AI data centers that are looking to buy sites. The largest bitcoin miners should ramp up their M&A plans to maintain “long-term strategic relevance,” the report noted.
Bernstein has an outperform rating on Riot shares and a $22 price target. At the time of writing, the shares were trading around $10.30.
Read more: Riot Plans Hostile Takeover of Bitfarms; Proposes $2.30 Per Share
More For You
Exchange Review - March 2025
CoinDesk Data's monthly Exchange Review captures the key developments within the cryptocurrency exchange market. The report includes analyses that relate to exchange volumes, crypto derivatives trading, market segmentation by fees, fiat trading, and more.
What to know:
Trading activity softened in March as market uncertainty grew amid escalating tariff tensions between the U.S. and global trading partners. Centralized exchanges recorded their lowest combined trading volume since October, declining 6.24% to $6.79tn. This marked the third consecutive monthly decline across both market segments, with spot trading volume falling 14.1% to $1.98tn and derivatives trading slipping 2.56% to $4.81tn.
- Trading Volumes Decline for Third Consecutive Month: Combined spot and derivatives trading volume on centralized exchanges fell by 6.24% to $6.79tn in March 2025, reaching the lowest level since October. Both spot and derivatives markets recorded their third consecutive monthly decline, falling 14.1% and 2.56% to $1.98tn and $4.81tn respectively.
- Institutional Crypto Trading Volume on CME Falls 23.5%: In March, total derivatives trading volume on the CME exchange fell by 23.5% to $175bn, the lowest monthly volume since October 2024. CME's market share among derivatives exchanges dropped from 4.63% to 3.64%, suggesting declining institutional interest amid current macroeconomic conditions.
- Bybit Spot Market Share Slides in March: Spot trading volume on Bybit fell by 52.1% to $81.1bn in March, coinciding with decreased trading activity following the hack of the exchange's cold wallets in February. Bybit's spot market share dropped from 7.35% to 4.10%, its lowest since July 2023.
More For You
Top Stories
