Riot Platforms, Inc.

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to Riot Platform's fourth quarter 2024 and full year 2024 earnings conference call. Please note that all participants have been placed in listen-only mode until the question and answer session begins following the company's presentation of its prepared remarks. Please also be advised that today's call is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to Phil McPherson, Vice President of Capital Markets and Investor Relations at Riot Platform. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Michelle. Good afternoon and welcome to Riot Platform's fourth quarter and full year 2024 earnings conference call. My name is Phil McPherson, Vice President of Capital Markets and Investor Relations. And joining me on today's call from Riot are Jason Less, CEO, Colin Yee, CFO, and Jason Chung, Executive Vice President and Head of Corporate Development and Strategy. On the Riot Investor Relations website, you can find our fourth quarter and full year 2024 earnings press release and accompanying earnings presentation, which are intended to supplement today's prepared remarks. and which include a discussion of certain non-GAAP items. Non-GAAP financial measures provided should not be considered as a substitute for or superior to the measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with GAAP and are included as additional clarifying items to aid investors in further understanding the company's fourth quarter and full year 2024 performance. During today's call, we will be making forward-looking statements regarding potential future events. These statements are based on management's current expectations and assumptions and are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results can maturely differ due to factors discussed in today's earnings press release, in comments and responses made during today's call, and in the risk factors section of our Form 10-K and Form 10-Q, including for the year ended December 31st, 2024, which will be filed later today, as well as other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. With that, I will turn the call over to Jason Less, CEO of Riot Platforms.

Thank you, Phil, and good afternoon, everyone. Before we dive into Riot's 2024 results, I would like to reflect on the industry as a whole. When Riot began mining Bitcoin in 2017, the entire network hash rate was just 3x a hash. By 2024, Riot alone grew our self-binding hash rate by 19.1 exahash to a total of 31.5 exahash, while the global network reached an all-time high of over 750 exahash. In January of 2024, the approval of the Bitcoin ETF brought further institutional adoption, resulting in the most successful launch of ETFs ever as measured by AUM. By July of 2024, Bitcoin had become a key topic during the presidential election. And post-election, Bitcoin hit new all-time highs of $75,000 and then $100,000. Riot has been mining Bitcoin since 2017 with conviction in its long-term value proposition. In January 2024, Riot stopped selling Bitcoin produced through our mining activities in order to retain more Bitcoins. Additionally, we purchased Bitcoin for the first time in December 2024, following our inaugural successful convertible debt offering, ultimately adding over 10,000 Bitcoin to our balance sheet over the course of the year. ending 2024 with 17,722 Bitcoin worth $1.7 billion based on the Bitcoin price of $93,354 as of December 1st, 2024. Our efforts to maximize the value of our unique power assets does not mean we have changed our long-term view on Bitcoin. Riot currently maintains approximately 4% of the global network, and we will continue to pursue a compounding increase in the value of Bitcoin held per share as a key operating metric, while seeking to maximize the value of all of our assets for our shareholders. In 2024, AIHPC demand for access to power resulted in Bitcoin mining power assets being converted into AIHPC use. This has continued into 2025, increasing the value of large-scale sites with secured access to power near major metropolitan areas, sites such as our Corsicana and Rockdale facilities. There is a unique, timely opportunity for Riot shareholders to benefit from the value of our assets and to maximize shareholder value, and I am excited to share further updates on our aggressive pursuit of this opportunity. I would like to start by reviewing Riot's key accomplishments during 2024. We successfully energized the Corsicana facility. Following approximately 24 months of development, Riot successfully energized the 400 megawatt substation, developed four buildings, and deployed immersion systems and miners, ending the year with approximately 14 exahash of self-mining hashrate at the Corsicana facility alone. Our Bitcoin yield strategy. In January of 2024, with ETF approvals imminent and the 2024 halving approaching, Riot's decision to retain all mined Bitcoin and focus on increasing Bitcoin per share, i.e. Bitcoin yield, has resulted in a nearly 40% Bitcoin yield in 2024 and more than $100 million in incremental asset value appreciation in 2024 alone. our convertible senior notes offering. In line with Riot's Bitcoin yield strategy and target to continue to increase Bitcoin held per share, Riot was able to take advantage of favorable market conditions and issue our inaugural convertible senior notes offering. This issuance lowered our cost of capital, expanded our institutional investor base, and proceeds were utilized to acquire Bitcoin and further enhance Bitcoin yield. The block mining acquisition. This was Wright's first acquisition in more than two years and our first business expansion outside of Texas into an attractive new jurisdiction, offering 60 megawatts of current mining operations and expansion opportunities to 305 megawatts and beyond. Finally, the E4A acquisition, our most recent acquisition, which supplements our engineering business while also enhancing our core operating capabilities. For 2025, we expect to grow our Bitcoin mining hash rate by approximately 22% while aggressively pursuing AI HPC opportunities to maximize the value of our unique assets. We believe that this approach will bring the most value to our shareholders while allowing us to remain flexible as market opportunities continue to present themselves. With a strong balance sheet, a solid operating team, and a management team focused on value creation, I am truly excited at the path we have ahead of ourselves.