Riot Dumps Record $162M in Bitcoin as Hashprice Crisis Forces Largest-Ever Selloff

Core Insights - Riot Platforms executed its largest bitcoin selloff, liquidating $161.6 million worth of BTC in December due to deteriorating mining economics, marking a shift from its previous "hodl" strategy [1][2] Group 1: Bitcoin Sales and Holdings - In December, Riot sold 1,818 bitcoin at an average net price of $88,870, a 375% increase from November sales, reducing its bitcoin holdings to 18,005 BTC from over 19,300 BTC [2] - Despite producing 460 bitcoin in December, the company sold nearly four times that amount, indicating a significant profitability squeeze [3] Group 2: Mining Economics and Hashrate - The hashprice, a critical measure of miner revenue, is near $37 per petahash per second, close to a five-year low, impacting margins across the industry [4] - The total network hashrate has decreased from around 1.1 zettahash per second to just above 1 ZH/s, suggesting some miners are reducing operations [4] Group 3: Mining Costs and Efficiency - The average direct cash cost to mine one bitcoin for public miners was approximately $74,600 in Q2 2025, with bitcoin difficulty currently near 148.2 trillion [7] - Fleet efficiency improved to 20.2 joules per terahash, down from 21.9 J/TH a year earlier, while power costs remained competitive at 3.9 cents per kilowatt hour [5]