Riot Platforms (NASDAQ: RIOT) and Hut 8 (NASDAQ: HUT), two publicly traded Bitcoin mining firms, revealed significant cryptocurrency sales in their third-quarter 2026 earnings reports released on Wednesday.
The disclosures underscore a broader industry pivot, as companies convert digital asset reserves into cash to support data-center growth aimed at artificial intelligence workloads and, in one case, direct capital returns to shareholders.
Riot Platforms liquidated a substantial portion of its Bitcoin treasury during the quarter.
The company ended September holding 2,418 BTC, valued at roughly $202 million based on the quarter-end price of $83,554, after beginning the period with higher reserves.
It mined 1,637 BTC in the quarter while selling far more, consistent with year-to-date disposals of 20,264 BTC that generated approximately $1.5 billion in proceeds.
Management stated that the sales were directed primarily toward funding data-center development.
The firm also fully repaid and terminated a $200 million credit facility with Coinbase, releasing previously pledged coins.
By quarter’s end, Riot reported $950.2 million in combined cash and Bitcoin, including $748.2 million in cash (of which $79.2 million was restricted), and noted that it had raised no equity capital in 2026.
The sales coincide with major infrastructure progress.
Riot announced a 15-year triple-net powered-land lease covering the entirety of its Corsicana, Texas campus—910 megawatts of critical IT capacity—with a leading frontier AI laboratory.
The agreement carries an approximate $28 billion total contract value and roughly $1.8 billion in average annual rent over the initial term.
Combined with prior deals, including an AMD arrangement and an earlier Rockdale lease, Riot has now contracted 1,151 MW of critical IT capacity representing about $38 billion in long-term revenue.
The company expects these contracts to produce more than $2 billion in average annual net operating income once fully deployed.
Capital intensity for the Corsicana project is estimated at roughly $6 million per IT megawatt—about half that of a conventional Tier 3 build—with the tenant bearing most operating costs and Riot limiting its own equity-financing needs.Financial results reflected the transition.
Total revenue reached $181.4 million, a modest 1% increase from the prior-year quarter, as Data Center revenue of $18.4 million and Engineering revenue of $47 million offset a decline in Bitcoin Mining revenue to $116 million.
Mining revenue fell mainly because the average realized Bitcoin price dropped to $70,855 from $114,361 a year earlier, even as production rose 16%.
Net income was approximately $4 million.
Hut 8 pursued a different allocation of its Bitcoin proceeds.
In the third quarter the company sold approximately 954 BTC for net proceeds of $74.8 million and used nearly all of that amount to repurchase and retire 953,802 shares at a cost of $74.7 million.
After the quarter ended, it sold roughly 2,148 additional BTC for $175.4 million in net proceeds and completed further repurchases, bringing the cumulative total to about 3.3 million shares retired for approximately $250 million.
On November 2 the board increased the overall share-repurchase authorization from $250 million to $1 billion.
CEO Asher Genoot noted that shareholders now hold a larger stake in a growing platform following the Bitcoin-funded buybacks.
Hut 8’s results showed mixed operational performance amid its own AI infrastructure push.
Revenue declined to $71.1 million from $83.5 million in the prior-year period, reflecting asset sales and lower realized revenue per Bitcoin mined, while Adjusted EBITDA rose to $33 million from $30.5 million.
Net income was $189.5 million, heavily influenced by $413.8 million of primarily unrealized gains on digital assets.
The company advanced commercialization of its Beacon Point campus, expanded energy capacity under exclusivity, and closed a $1.07 billion senior secured revolving credit facility.
As of September 30, Bitcoin holdings attributable to Hut 8 were valued at approximately $697.4 million, with additional holdings at its majority-owned American Bitcoin subsidiary.
Together the announcements illustrate how leading miners are redeploying Bitcoin treasuries to finance the capital-intensive shift toward high-density AI computing while, in Hut 8’s case, also returning capital directly to equity holders. Both firms emphasized disciplined, largely non-dilutive funding strategies for their growing data center pipelines.
