Riot Games Lowers Costs by Cutting Third-Party Hosting

3 mins

Riot's attempt to reduce their operating expenses by shifting its rigs to Texas and lowering their power costs was partly accomplished by eliminating "all third-party hosting fees."

Riot Blockchain, a cryptocurrency mining company, announced that it is moving some of its rigs from its New York facility to central Texas.

In a statement released on Wednesday, Riot revealed that it had moved some of its mining rigs from the Coinmint facility in Massena, New York to the Whinstone facility in Rockdale, Texas. This move was part of an effort to reduce operating costs through lower power expenses and eliminate "all third-party hosting fees." The company said that it would ship the remainder of its S19 miner fleet at Coinmint to Whinstone by July.

The move comes as many parts of Texas experience temperatures over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and power demands rise for air conditioners to keep residents cool. Data from the state's primary energy provider, Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), show that prices for its southern hub — which would include Riot's facility in Rockdale — could reach $95.94 per MW-hour within the next 24 hours. However, some reports suggest that energy production from wind and solar has helped to reduce costs despite increasing power demands. 

Riot's work in Texas appeared to be focused on the state's heat wave. The company reported that it was working on two air-cooled buildings, one finished and another where "initial miner deployments have begun" as some electrical work was completed.

Riot's CEO Jason Les said that the company would reduce its energy consumption this summer as part of an ERCOT program aimed at addressing demand on Texas' power grid. Cointelegraph reported in February that Riot shut down 99% of its operations in the state, anticipating a possible severe winter storm requiring high energy demands — low temperatures and heavy snowfall were responsible for many parts of the state being without power for days in February 2021.

The crypto mining firm reported that it had mined 421 Bitcoin (BTC) in June, but sold 300 BTC for $6.2 million, leaving Riot with 6,654 coins as of June 30. The company said there were 42,455 miners in its fleet producing a hash rate of 4.4 exahashes per second (EH/s), but that it planned to have 12.5 EH/s capacity following the deployment of 115,450 Antminer rigs by January 2023

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