Riot Platforms Pivots to AI: Selling Bitcoin to Fund $9.1B Data Center Deal

Woofun AI reports that Riot Platforms has executed a 191-megawatt data center lease with an unnamed frontier AI lab, marking a strategic pivot from pure mining to infrastructure hosting.

The financial architecture of the agreement projects $9.1 billion in gross contract revenue over a 20-year base term, with two optional extensions potentially raising total value to $16.1 billion.

Woofun AI data shows capital spending is estimated between $2.1 billion and $2.3 billion, with 80% to 90% intended to be covered by long-term project debt that remains unclosed. The remaining equity gap ranges from $210 million to $460 million, though an expected $180 million refinancing linked to AMD deployment could lower the estimated equity need to $30 million to $280 million.

To bridge this funding shortfall, Riot plans to liquidate Bitcoin from its inventory, treating the treasury as a primary equity source. As of June 30, the company held 11,380 Bitcoin, of which 5,821 were pledged against a fully drawn $200 million Coinbase Credit facility, leaving 51.2% of holdings restricted and 5,559 Bitcoin unencumbered. During the first half of 2026, Riot sold 9,665 Bitcoin for $732.5 million; while the including-depreciation cost was 26.5% above production value, the excluding-depreciation cost remained below it, highlighting the non-cash nature of hardware depreciation.

Rent payments are not scheduled to begin until 2027, creating a liquidity bridge period reliant on financing that is not yet closed and continued Bitcoin sales for equity. This structure forces a near-term treasury trade-off, where immediate asset liquidation is weighed against the long-term AI strategy and the risk of delayed revenue realization.