Riot is dumping its Bitcoin to fund a $9.1B AI deal that won’t pay rent until 2027

Bitcoin miner Riot Platforms has signed a 191-megawatt data center lease with an unnamed frontier AI lab that it expects to generate about $9.1 billion of gross contract revenue over a 20-year base term.

Construction cash must arrive much sooner: the first 96 MW is expected to become available in December 2027, when initial rent is expected to commence, and the remaining 95 MW is due in June 2028. The plan still treats Bitcoin sales as a source of construction equity before rent begins.

Riot projects $2.1 billion to $2.3 billion of capital spending for the build and assumes that 80% to 90% will come from long-term project debt. That debt is not disclosed as closed. The projected stack leaves $210 million to $460 million of equity funding before an expected $180 million refinancing tied to its AMD deployment would reduce the estimated equity need to $30 million to $280 million.

The first bridge is a $573 million interim facility administered by Morgan Stanley Senior Funding. It is intended for long-lead equipment and development costs, bears interest at SOFR plus 2.75% and matures on Oct. 15, 2026, subject to limited extension in specified refinancing circumstances. The filing does not say the entire facility was drawn or unconditionally available. Riot also says an investment-grade credit backstop is being finalized, without disclosing its provider, amount, conditions or completion.

Bitcoin sales remain in the construction budget

Riot’s presentation identifies continued Bitcoin sales from its inventory as the primary source for data center equity spending. No specific future sale is guaranteed, and Riot had not disclosed a post-quarter sale through Aug. 11, but management’s plan treats the treasury as a funding source.

At June 30, Riot reported 11,380 Bitcoin, with 5,821 pledged against a fully drawn $200 million Coinbase Credit facility. That put 51.2% of its holdings under restriction, while 5,559 Bitcoin were not classified as restricted. Riot also sold 9,665 Bitcoin for $732.5 million during the first half of 2026.

Its mining economics sharpen the treasury question without showing cash costs per coin above production value. Cost to mine one Bitcoin excluding miner depreciation was $49,912 in the second quarter, or 69.6% of the $71,667 production value. Including depreciation, the figure rose to $90,631, or 126.5% of production value.

The including-depreciation measure was 26.5% above production value. But depreciation is a non-cash expense on mining hardware, not a variable cost that Riot can avoid by temporarily curtailing machines. The comparison therefore shows all-in accounting cost above production value, while Riot’s excluding-depreciation cost remained below it.

The lease offers a large revenue path after capacity is delivered. Two extensions, each controlled by the tenant, could lift projected gross contract revenue to about $16.1 billion only if both are exercised. Until rent scales, Riot still needs financing that is not yet closed and continued Bitcoin sales for equity, leaving a near-term treasury trade-off inside its long-term AI strategy.