Public Pension Fund CalPERS Acquires More Shares in RIOT 

California’s Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) now owns over 100,000 shares in bitcoin mining firm RIOT Blockchain following further stake made during Bitcoin’s late rally in December 2020.

CalPERS Buy More RIOT Shares

The largest public fund in the U.S now holds 113,034 shares in Riot, up from the initial holding of 16,097 shares made in 2017, according to a recent filing. The company’s total holding is now worth around $2m.

CalPERS’ new acquisitions reflect rising faith in BTC and the potential benefits cryptocurrencies as a whole can bring to the financial system globally. 

This came to fruition when the BTC price surged by 180% in the fourth quarter of 2020. RIOT Blockchain also enjoyed a boost from this as their shares climbed by over 500% in the process. Besides mining firms, CalPERS has other interests in the blockchain.

The pension fund discussed blockchain as a future technology investment opportunity in a 2016 public forum. Prior to the conference held in July 2016, CalPERS invested $200 million in Kholsa Ventures, a Silicon Valley-based venture capital fund focused on green tech companies.

RIOT Blockchain is a  popular bitcoin mining firm based in Colorado. The company has ramped up the purchase of its mining gear of late. RIOT Blockchain is a  popular mining firm based in Colorado.

In December, the bitcoin miner purchased 15,000 Antminers at a cost of $35 million. The purchase was made in an effort to increase its total operational hash rate. Bitmain sold the miners to Riot. Both parties have formed a partnership that has extended for a period of time. Riot also took delivery of new 2,5000 Antminers from Bitmain in October.

Optimizing Ops

Besides buying high-powered mining gear, RIOT is also working with partners to bolster its operations. RIOT announced a co-location mining contract with North-American mining firm Coinmint in 2020. 

“As the largest capacity cryptocurrency mining facility in North America, Coinmint is designed to meet the needs of mining partners of Riot’s caliber. We have worked hard to provide the best mining services at the lowest cost to institutional BTC miners.” CEO of Coinmint Ashton Soniat explained in the release.

The partnership was created to downsize its power costs and a way for them to diversify their mining operations.