Riot Blokchain Mined 21% Less BTC in July Due to Texas Heat Wave
- The crypto mining firm said it had voluntarily curtailed its energy consumption to ensure more power was available in Texas during the heat wave in July.
- While it produced 21% less BTC than it could, the company had earned around $9.5 million in power credit and benefits, as well as reduced its power consumption for the month.
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A heat wave in Texas has caused one of the largest crypto mining firms in the world, Riot Blockchain, to produce 28% less Bitcoin in July then it did the same month last year, the company said in update on 3 August.
According to the announcement, during July Riot decided to shut down some of its operations to accommodate for the high energy demand the heat wave was causing Texas, which reduced its BTC production by an estimate 21%. The company, however, noted that its loses from the temporary reduction of its productivity were somewhat negated by its lowered power costs. The CEO of Riot Blockchain, Jason Les, said in a statement.
“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. Curtailing the Company’s power consumption reduced BTC production by an estimated 21% in July, but also significantly reduced Riot’s power costs for the month.”
Les noted that the company had reduced its energy consumption by a total of 11,717 megawatt hours in July, which was enough to power 13,121 average U.S. homes for one month. Riot provided power back to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) grid in periods of peak demand, which earned it around $9.5 million in power credit and other benefits.
The company also reported that it had sold a total of 275 BTC in July, netting it around $5.6 million, and it currently holds 6,696 self-mined BTC. Riot’s current mining power is around 4.2 exahash per second (EH/s), though it has plans to expand that to 12.5 EH/s by the first quarter of 2023. Earlier this year, the company also announced plans to further expand its mining capacity by up to 1 gigawatt with a new facility in Navarro, Texas.
- Core Scientific’s bankruptcy filing revealed the company had between $1 billion and $10 billion in assets, and the same amount in liabilities.
- The company is one of the largest Bitcoin miners in the world, and is responsible for around 10% of the computing power on the Bitcoin network through its 243,000 machines.
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- All three agencies noted the company had failed to provide sufficient details about what it would do with the proceeds from the sale.