Riot Platforms Conducts Record Bitcoin Selloff Amid Hashprice Crisis

In December, Riot Platforms executed its largest-ever selloff of Bitcoin, amounting to $161.6 million. This drastic decision reflects an urgent need to adjust their treasury strategy due to worsening mining economics and a significant decline in hashprice, pushing the company away from its previously favored "hodl" strategy.

Key Takeaways

Riot Platforms sold $161.6 million in Bitcoin in December, marking its largest selloff to date.
The company sold 1,818 Bitcoin, reducing its holdings from over 19,300 to 18,005 BTC.
Despite producing 460 BTC in December, the mining firm's selloff highlights the ongoing profitability crisis.
Bitcoin mining difficulty remains high, impacting miners' revenue and pushing operators to reconsider their strategies.

Riot Platforms Conducts Record Selloff

Riot Increases Bitcoin Sales as Hashprice Drops

Riot Platforms, a well-known U.S.-listed Bitcoin mining company, reported selling 1,818 Bitcoin in December at an average net price of $88,870. This represents a staggering 375% increase compared to the sales figures from November, leading to a decline in the firm's Bitcoin holdings, which fell to 18,005 BTC from over 19,300 just a month prior.

Even though Riot produced 460 Bitcoin in December, almost four times that amount was liquidated, showcasing the depth of the current crisis in profitability among miners. Daily Bitcoin production saw a modest rise to 14.8 BTC, and the deployed hash rate increased to 38.5 exahash per second, reflecting a year-on-year growth of 22%. The average operational hashrate also rose to 34.9 EH/s.

This massive selloff occurs against the backdrop of a declining hashprice—a crucial metric for miner earnings—hovering around $37 per petahash per second, nearing a five-year low. Despite Bitcoin reaching impressive all-time highs in 2025, the industry is suffering from rising network difficulty and relentless hashrate growth that contribute to tightening margins.

Data from Glassnode indicates that the total network hashrate has dipped from approximately 1.1 zettahash per second to just over 1 ZH/s, suggesting that some miners are either scaling back operations or deciding to exit the space altogether.

Hashrate Data

In terms of efficiency, Riot's operations have shown an improvement, with fleet efficiency going down to 20.2 joules per terahash, down from 21.9 J/TH the previous year. Current power costs remain competitive at approximately 3.9 cents per kilowatt hour, bolstered by $6.2 million in power and demand response credits.

Nevertheless, this relief is limited, and the overall trend remains challenging. After the April 2024 halving, block rewards were cut to 3.125 BTC per block, totaling around 450 BTC per day across the network. Transaction fees contributed less than 1% of revenue for most of 2025, which leaves miners vulnerable to increasing difficulty.

The Pressure on Bitcoin Miners

Bitcoin mining difficulty hit a record high of 155.98 trillion in October and currently stands around 148.2 trillion, with only a slight 3% decline expected in the upcoming adjustment. According to CoinShares, the average direct cash cost for public miners to produce one Bitcoin was about $74,600 during the second quarter of 2025.

Mining Costs

Once non-cash expenses such as depreciation are taken into account, total mining costs exceed $137,000. Estimates suggest that by late 2025, many miners might be operating at breakeven, even with efficient machinery and favorable power contracts.

Riot's choice to release more Bitcoin rather than hold onto it reflects a broader industry trend among large miners. Companies have been adapting to this challenging environment by increasing hashrate, controlling costs, and diversifying into areas like artificial intelligence and high-performance computing.

Firms such as CleanSpark, TeraWulf, Cipher Mining, and Bitfarms have secured multi-year, multi-billion-dollar contracts for AI infrastructure, while others have repurposed entire mining sites for different uses. Riot executives have reiterated that they see mining more as a way of capitalizing on access to power rather than merely mining for Bitcoin.

This strategic shift is mirrored across the sector, despite a significant increase in overall miner debt, which has surged from $2.1 billion to $12.7 billion over the last year. Many companies are taking on debt to finance their expansions and diversification efforts.

As a final note, Riot has announced that December will be its last monthly production report; moving forward, the company intends to publish quarterly updates that focus on its wider business performance, strategies for data centers, and mining operations.