Riot Platforms (RIOT), a publicly traded bitcoin mining company that develops and operates large-scale data centers, ramped up its bitcoin sales at the end of the year, unloading 1,818 BTC ($161.6 million) and 383 BTC ($37 million) in November. The sales reduced Riot’s Bitcoin balance to 18,005 BTC by the end of 2025.
While coin sales by Bitcoin miners may be occurring for a variety of reasons, Matthew Sigel, head of digital assets research at VanEck, suggested that funding for the company’s AI development could be in play. The amount sold, he noted, represents “roughly the entire investment that Riot has guided for the first 112 MW core/shell build at Corsicana, scheduled for completion in the first quarter 2027. In other words, a winter of BTC sales is equivalent to funding Phase 1 of the AI data center pivot.
Sigel added that AI trading and bitcoin are increasingly linked, saying that miners are among the largest marginal sellers of BTC as they finance AI-related investments, especially when credit conditions tighten. This could be one of the many reasons for Bitcoin’s decline in 2025.
Riot shares fell 2% on Tuesday, alongside a 1.2% decline in the price of bitcoin to $92,500.
