The miner sold BTC at an average price of $76,626, collecting $289.5 million, as pressure from energy costs continues to grow.

Riot Platforms sold 3,778 Bitcoin during the first quarter of 2025, according to the operational update published on Thursday. The BTC were sold at an average price of $76,626, for a total of $289.5 million. At the time of publication, Bitcoin was trading at around $66,867.

During the quarter, Riot produced 1,473 Bitcoin and held 15,680 BTC on its balance sheet at the end of Q1. The blockchain intelligence platform Arkham also reported an outflow of 500 Bitcoin from a wallet attributed to Riot Platforms on Thursday.

Kadan Stadelmann, developer and co-founder of AI company Compance, commented on the situation: “Miners are selling Bitcoin due to rising energy costs, highlighted by the current oil price shock, which represents one of the costs of Bitcoin mining. With energy costs rising, miners are forced to sell their Bitcoin in an attempt to cover operational expenses.”

The conflict in the Middle East, which intensified in February, has pushed oil prices higher and driven cryptocurrencies and markets broadly lower. Less efficient miners are shutting down their operations due to rising costs. According to Stadelmann, this trend will lead to further capitulation, making room for larger operators. Bitcoin’s mining difficulty dropped on March 20 from approximately 145 trillion to 133 trillion, while the hashrate fell from 1,160 exahash at the start of the month to around 990 exahash, according to data from CoinWarz.

Stadelmann nonetheless noted that a potential drop in energy prices or a recovery in Bitcoin’s price could bring less efficient miners back online: “The hashrate and difficulty could increase if efficient miners expanded their operations thanks to a more favorable mining environment, through hardware investments or acquisitions of other miners. Alternatively, energy prices could fall, bringing less efficient miners back.”