Riot and Hut 8 Sell More Than 23,000 Bitcoin in 2026 to Fund AI Data Centers and Buybacks
Riot Platforms sold 20,264 bitcoin over nine months for about $1.5 billion. Hut 8 sold another 3,102 coins to buy back stock. Two listed miners are turning bitcoin treasuries into AI infrastructure on the day they reported earnings.
Nasdaq-listed miner Riot Platforms sold 20,264 bitcoin in the first nine months of 2026 for about $1.5 billion, according to its November 4 results release, and ended September with 2,418 bitcoin on the balance sheet, worth about $202.0 million at the September 30 price of $83,554 [1]. Hut 8 sold about 954 bitcoin in the third quarter and another 2,148 in October, 3,102 coins in total, to fund share repurchases [2]. Together the two companies have sold more than 23,000 bitcoin in 2026.
The proceeds have clear destinations. Riot says the sales mainly fund data-center development, and the same release unveiled the largest lease in its history: 910 MW of IT capacity at Corsicana with a frontier AI lab [1]. Hut 8 is using bitcoin sales to retire its own shares and has raised its repurchase authorization to $1.0 billion [2].
"Today, we are excited to announce the largest lease in Riot's history: a 15-year triple-net powered land lease with a leading Frontier AI Lab for the entirety of our Corsicana campus, representing 910 megawatts of critical IT capacity and approximately $28 billion of contracted revenue over the initial term," said Jason Les, Riot's chief executive [1].
A 910 MW campus and a thinner treasury
With the AMD contract and an earlier lease at Rockdale with the same tenant, Riot reports 1,151 MW of contracted critical IT capacity and about $38 billion of long-term contracted revenue [1]. "That lower capital requirement, combined with our strong balance sheet, means that we do not currently anticipate issuing equity to fund our announced projects," Les said [1].
Mining still shows up in the numbers. Bitcoin mining revenue was $116.0 million in the quarter, down from $160.8 million a year earlier, on an average bitcoin price of $70,855 versus $114,361, while production rose 16% to 1,637 bitcoin [1]. The average cost to mine one coin, excluding depreciation, fell to $39,265 [1]. Riot ended the quarter with $950.2 million in cash and bitcoin, including $748.2 million in cash, and raised no equity in 2026 [1].
Hut 8 sells bitcoin to buy back stock
Hut 8 tells a parallel story with a different use of proceeds. In the third quarter it sold about 954 bitcoin for $74.8 million in net proceeds and retired 953,802 shares for $74.7 million [2]. After quarter-end it sold about 2,148 bitcoin for $175.4 million net and bought back 2,384,677 shares for $175.3 million, bringing cumulative repurchases under the program to about $250.0 million [2]. On November 2 the board raised the authorization to $1.0 billion [2].
"And our shareholders now own a larger share of a growing platform following share repurchases funded with Bitcoin from our balance sheet," said Asher Genoot, Hut 8's chief executive [2]. The company puts expected base-term contract value across its AI data-center portfolio at about $26.6 billion and energy capacity under construction at 1,330 MW [2].
Third-quarter revenue was $71.1 million, down from $83.5 million a year earlier, with $68.4 million from compute [2]. Net income attributable to Hut 8 Corp. was $131.1 million, including $413.8 million of mostly unrealized gains on digital assets [2]. As of September 30 it reported 16,787 bitcoin across the consolidated perimeter [3].
What the chain shows while miners change jobs
As Riot and Hut 8 redeploy treasuries into AI, network data still tracks miner pressure on chain. The Puell Multiple on our API, which compares daily issuance value with its 365-day average, stood at 1.05 on November 4 after 0.89 on November 2 [4]. Estimated hashrate that day was about 1,055 EH/s [4].
Difficulty is estimated to fall 2.8% at the block 975,744 retarget, with 1,105 blocks still to go in our November 5 API reading [5].
That estimate follows two consecutive October rises above 5%, the latest a 5.54% jump at block 973,728, covered in our Calacanis difficulty piece and in the hashprice discussion of what a petahash earns [6][7].
Whether block 975,744 confirms the cut, and what that does to revenue per petahash for miners who stay online, is the open question. Figures for the open difficulty epoch sit on our network page.
Sources
Source type in brackets. Accessed November 5, 2026.
- Riot Platforms, Riot Platforms Reports Third Quarter 2026 Financial Results and Strategic Highlights, November 4, 2026. (Primary, company)
- Hut 8 Corp., Exhibit 99.1, third-quarter 2026 results, SEC filing, November 4, 2026. (Primary, company / SEC)
- Hut 8 Corp., Form 10-Q for the period ended September 30, 2026, bitcoin holdings and sales note. (Primary, SEC)
- NodeWitness public API,
/api/market/metrics, November 2 and November 4, 2026 rows (Puell Multiple and hashrate). (Primary, own data) - NodeWitness public API,
/api/market/ticker, November 5, 2026 reading (estimated difficulty −2.8%, 1,105 blocks to 975,744, height 974,639). (Primary, own data) - NodeWitness, Calacanis Calls Bitcoin a 'Dead Network' as Miners Deliver a Second 5% Difficulty Rise, October 29, 2026. (Own, context)
- NodeWitness, Vitalik Says Half of Bitcoin Mining's Cost Is Electricity. Here's What a Petahash Earns in 2026, October 23, 2026. (Own, context)
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Last updated: November 5, 2026