Riot Platforms and the Texas Blockchain Council (TBC) have emerged victorious in their legal battle against several U.S. energy officials, including the Department of Energy (DOE).
In a recent development, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas granted a favorable ruling to Riot and TBC, acknowledging the immediate harm that would result without a temporary restraining order (TRO) to halt further data collection.
The court issued a TRO on February 25th, preventing the Energy Information Administration (EIA), a division of the DOE, from compelling crypto miners to participate in a survey and sharing collected data. Additionally, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is prohibited from requiring miners to respond to the survey or disclose any already collected data.
Riot Platforms and TBC argued that compliance with the survey would result in irrecoverable costs, prosecution threats, and the disclosure of proprietary information. The court’s decision was influenced by evidence demonstrating the potential damages outlined by the plaintiffs.
Meanwhile, Riot Platforms has reported significant financial success, generating $281 million in total revenues, mining 6,626 Bitcoins, and accruing $71 million in power credits in 2023.
In the wider Bitcoin mining sector, there has been substantial growth, with public mining companies raising $1.63 billion in equity through public sales in 2023. This growth is reflected in increased power demand, driven by rising Bitcoin prices.
Riot Platforms further solidified its position in the Bitcoin mining industry by acquiring 18 EH/s of hash rate from MicroBT, along with a long-term supply agreement. This strategic move, totaling $290.5 million, aims to expand Riot’s mining capacity to over 38 EH/s by the second half of 2025.
The acquisition includes the purchase of 66,560 latest-generation Bitcoin miners, with options for acquiring up to 265,000 additional miners, potentially increasing Riot’s self-mining capacity to over 100 EH/s. This aligns with Riot’s goal of becoming a leading Bitcoin-driven infrastructure platform.
The agreement with MicroBT underscores Riot’s commitment to hash rate growth and operational expansion, emphasizing a strong partnership between the two entities.
Furthermore, on February 24th, the U.S. DOE agreed to temporarily suspend its emergency survey of energy use by cryptocurrency miners following legal action from Bitcoin mining groups against the Biden administration’s data demand.
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