Bitcoin mining firm Riot Platforms has reported a significant increase in losses in the second quarter of this year, as challenges from April's Bitcoin halving event continue to impact its financial performance.
Riot Platforms Announces Bigger Losses in the 2nd Quarter, Increases Its Stake in Bitfarms
Riot Platforms recorded a net loss of $84.4 million in Q2, up sharply from the $27.4 million loss reported in the same period last year.
The company's total revenue also decreased compared to the previous year, falling from $76.7 million to $70 million.
The revenue decline was primarily driven by a $9.7 million decline in engineering revenue, partially offset by a $6 million increase in Bitcoin mining revenue, according to the firm's latest quarterly report released Wednesday.
The company produced 844 Bitcoins in the 2nd quarter, a 52% decrease compared to the same period of the previous year, and the main reasons for this decrease were the halving of Bitcoin and the increase in network difficulty.
Despite the drop in production, Riot nearly doubled its installed hash rate, reaching a total capacity of 22 exahashes per second (EH/s) as of the end of June.
CEO Jason Les stated that the company aims to achieve a total self-mining hashrate capacity of 36 EH/s by the end of the year.
Alongside its operational updates, Riot Platforms also revealed its ongoing strategic interest in rival mining firm Bitfarms.
The company purchased approximately 10.2 million additional Bitfarms shares in July. The move comes after Riot's attempt to acquire Bitfarms for $950 million in May met with resistance.
*This is not investment advice.