Crypto news

American mining giant Riot Platforms has made a strategic pivot that could set a benchmark for the entire industry. The company has signed a 20-year contract to lease computing capacity with one of the leaders in artificial intelligence—the laboratory Anthropic. This is not just a deal, but a fundamental confirmation of a paradigm shift: bitcoin miners are transforming into operators of high-tech infrastructure.

Terms of the Unprecedented Agreement

Under the agreement, Riot will provide Anthropic with access to 191 MW of capacity at its Texas campus in Rockdale. The deal will run until June 2048 and guarantees the company approximately $9.1 billion in revenue. The contract also includes two five-year extension options, which could increase the potential value of the deal to an impressive $16.1 billion.

The first phase of 96 MW of capacity is planned to be launched by December 2027, with the full volume by June 2028. Initial construction investments will amount to $573 million, with part of this funding provided by Morgan Stanley, indicating a high level of trust from traditional capital in the new business model.

Financial Results and Diversification

In parallel with the deal announcement, Riot released its second-quarter results. Revenue grew by 14%, reaching $174.2 million, with the revenue structure clearly demonstrating the company's development trajectory:

• data centers—$23.2 million;
• bitcoin mining—$113.7 million;
• engineering services—$37.3 million.

Despite revenue growth, the company recorded a net loss of $237.2 million, compared to a profit of $219.5 million a year earlier. This is the expected cost of a large-scale business transformation. During the quarter, Riot mined 1,587 BTC and ended the period with over $1.2 billion in liquid assets, including 11,380 BTC and $548.9 million in cash.

Riot CEO Jason Les emphasized that in less than seven months, the company has signed lease agreements for 241 MW, equivalent to approximately $9.8 billion in long-term revenue under contracts with two major AI players. The market reaction was mixed: on August 10, shares fell by 5.4%, but the very next day they surged by more than 23%, approaching the $24 mark.

This deal logically follows the January partnership with AMD and confirms the diversification course Riot adopted back in 2025. Core Scientific, IREN, Applied Digital, TeraWulf, and Hut 8 are actively pursuing a similar strategy. Notably, in August, Anthropic also signed a $10 billion agreement with Volta Infra Holdings, demonstrating the enormous demand for computing capacity from the AI sector.

My view: we are witnessing not a capitulation of miners, but their evolution. The Riot-Anthropic deal is not just a lease but the creation of a long-term financial foundation that will make the company less dependent on bitcoin volatility. For the industry, this is a signal: the future lies in hybrid models where cryptocurrency mining becomes just one line of business, not the sole purpose.