Riot is dumping its Bitcoin to fund a $9.1B AI deal that won’t pay rent until 2027
Bitcoin miner Riot Platforms has signed a 191-megawatt information middle lease with an unnamed frontier AI lab that it expects to generate about $9.1 billion of gross contract income over a 20-year base time period.
Construction money should arrive a lot sooner: the first 96 MW is anticipated to turn out to be out there in December 2027, when preliminary rent is anticipated to start, and the remaining 95 MW is due in June 2028. The plan nonetheless treats Bitcoin gross sales as a supply of building fairness earlier than rent begins.
Riot initiatives $2.1 billion to $2.3 billion of capital spending for the construct and assumes that 80% to 90% will come from long-term venture debt. That debt is not disclosed as closed. The projected stack leaves $210 million to $460 million of fairness funding earlier than an anticipated $180 million refinancing tied to its AMD deployment would cut back the estimated fairness want to $30 million to $280 million.
The first bridge is a $573 million interim facility administered by Morgan Stanley Senior Funding. It is supposed for long-lead tools and growth prices, bears curiosity at SOFR plus 2.75% and matures on Oct. 15, 2026, topic to restricted extension in specified refinancing circumstances. The submitting doesn’t say the whole facility was drawn or unconditionally out there. Riot additionally says an investment-grade credit score backstop is being finalized, with out disclosing its supplier, quantity, circumstances or completion.
Bitcoin gross sales stay within the building funds
Riot’s presentation identifies continued Bitcoin gross sales from its stock as the first supply for information middle fairness spending. No particular future sale is assured, and Riot had not disclosed a post-quarter sale by Aug. 11, however administration’s plan treats the treasury as a funding supply.
At June 30, Riot reported 11,380 Bitcoin, with 5,821 pledged in opposition to a absolutely drawn $200 million Coinbase Credit facility. That put 51.2% of its holdings below restriction, whereas 5,559 Bitcoin weren’t categorized as restricted. Riot additionally bought 9,665 Bitcoin for $732.5 million throughout the first half of 2026.
Its mining economics sharpen the treasury query with out displaying money prices per coin above manufacturing worth. Cost to mine one Bitcoin excluding miner depreciation was $49,912 within the second quarter, or 69.6% of the $71,667 manufacturing worth. Including depreciation, the determine rose to $90,631, or 126.5% of manufacturing worth.
The including-depreciation measure was 26.5% above manufacturing worth. But depreciation is a non-cash expense on mining {hardware}, not a variable value that Riot can keep away from by quickly curbing machines. The comparability subsequently reveals all-in accounting value above manufacturing worth, whereas Riot’s excluding-depreciation value remained beneath it.
The lease presents a giant income path after capability is delivered. Two extensions, every managed by the tenant, might carry projected gross contract income to about $16.1 billion provided that each are exercised. Until rent scales, Riot nonetheless wants financing that is not but closed and continued Bitcoin gross sales for fairness, leaving a near-term treasury trade-off inside its long-term AI technique.
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