Riot and Hut 8 sell bitcoin to fund AI buildout and buybacks

What happened

Riot Platforms and Hut 8, two of the largest publicly traded bitcoin miners, both reported third-quarter results on Wednesday and both used the occasion to confirm they have been selling the asset their businesses were built to accumulate, according to Bitcoin Magazine and Cointelegraph.

Riot has sold 20,264 BTC this year for roughly $1.5 billion. Its treasury stood at 2,418 BTC on Sept. 30, worth about $202 million at the quarter-end price of $83,554, down from 18,005 BTC at the start of the year. The proceeds paid for data center work and fully repaid a $200 million Coinbase credit facility, which released all pledged coins. The company said it raised no equity in 2026.

The selling coincided with a large infrastructure deal. Riot signed a 15-year triple-net lease with an unnamed Frontier AI Lab covering its entire Corsicana, Texas campus, representing 910 MW of critical IT capacity and about $28 billion over the initial term, with average annual rent of $1.8 billion. Cointelegraph reported that the tenant is identified as Anthropic in the company's quarterly filing. Alongside an AMD contract and an earlier Rockdale lease with the same tenant, Riot has now leased 1,151 MW for about $38 billion.

Hut 8's sales went toward shareholders rather than construction. The company sold about 954 bitcoin for $74.8 million in the quarter and about 2,148 BTC for $175.4 million in October, retiring 3.3 million shares for a combined $250 million. On Nov. 2 the board raised the repurchase authorization to $1 billion. Hut 8 reported about 16,787 BTC across the parent company and its majority-owned American Bitcoin on Sept. 30, worth $1.4 billion, of which $697.4 million was attributable to Hut 8 itself before the October sales reduced its share.

Why it matters

The disclosures mark how far both companies have moved from a model in which revenue tracked the bitcoin price. Riot's chief executive, Jason Les, said on the earnings call that a year earlier cash flow depended on bitcoin, whereas at full deployment of executed deals nearly all expected cash flow will come from long-term leases with AI players. Hut 8's chief financial officer, Sean Glennan, said the legacy revenue base is no longer the main growth driver while larger contracted infrastructure revenue remains tied to delivery milestones. Investors treated the two reports very differently: Riot shares rose around 13%, while Hut 8 fell about 17%, and more than 22% at one point, according to the two outlets.

What the data shows

Riot posted total revenue of $181.4 million, essentially flat year over year, as mining revenue fell 28% to $116 million. It produced 1,637 BTC in the quarter at an average cost of $39,265 before depreciation, against an average bitcoin price of $70,855, down from $114,361 a year earlier. Cointelegraph reported that Riot put total capital cost for the Corsicana project at $5.5 billion, to be financed mainly through debt backed by lease payments, though financing has not yet been secured.

Hut 8's revenue fell to $71.1 million from $83.5 million, missing analyst estimates of $75.8 million cited by MarketBeat. Net income of $189.5 million rested on $413.8 million of gains on digital assets, most of them unrealized, while adjusted EBITDA, which now excludes bitcoin mark-to-market, was $33 million. The company closed a $1.07 billion senior secured revolving credit facility that was undrawn at quarter-end, and said it had secured $7.5 billion in project bonds to finance two AI data center developments that have not yet begun generating lease revenue.

Background

Riot described an unusual capital structure for the Corsicana build: about $6 million per MW, roughly half a typical Tier 3 project, of which Riot funds $2 million for site work and power while the tenant covers the remainder, to be reimbursed from non-recourse project debt after each phase is delivered. Delivery is scheduled between September 2027 and July 2028, with rental payments beginning within 60 days of delivery. Les said bitcoin mining at Corsicana could begin winding down in summer 2027. Hut 8, meanwhile, said its data centers will not need the treasury, pointing to project-level financing for River Bend and Beacon Point without parent equity or recourse debt, and agreed to buy two energized West Texas sites with up to 230 MW out of a Chapter 11 process for up to $180 million.

What is still unclear

The two reports give different figures for Riot's third-quarter sales, with Bitcoin Magazine citing 12,186 BTC and Cointelegraph citing 10,599 BTC. Riot's financing for the Corsicana project had not been secured as of the earnings call. Hut 8's largest contracted leases have yet to produce rental income, so the timing of the revenue shift both companies describe remains dependent on construction milestones.

What to watch

Investors will be watching whether Riot secures project debt for Corsicana and stays on its 2027-2028 delivery schedule, and whether Hut 8's Beacon Point and River Bend sites begin generating lease revenue. Further bitcoin sales from either treasury, and the pace of Hut 8's expanded buyback program, are also likely to draw attention.

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