Riot Platforms (RIOT), a publicly traded bitcoin mining company that develops and operates large data centers, increased its year-end bitcoin sales, offloading 1,818 BTC ($161.6 million) and 383 BTC ($37 million) in November. The sale reduced Riot’s bitcoin balance to 18,005 BTC by the end of 2025.
While bitcoin miners’ coin sales could occur for a variety of reasons, Matthew Sigel, head of digital assets research at VanEck, suggested that funding for the company’s AI expansion could be at stake. The amount sold, he noted, is “roughly the entire capex Riot has guided for the first 112 MW core/shall build at Corsicana, targeted for completion in Q1 2027. In other words, one winter of BTC sales is equivalent to funding phase 1 of the AI data center pivot.”
Sigel added that the AI trade and bitcoin are increasingly linked, arguing that miners have been among the biggest marginal sellers of BTC as they fund AI-related capex, especially as credit conditions tighten. It could be one of many reasons for bitcoin’s fall in 2025.
Riot shares fell 2% on Tuesday along with a 1.2% retreat in the bitcoin price to $92,500.
