Bitcoin Mining Giant in the Making? Riot Reveals Bitfarms Takeover Plan

Bitcoin
mining
giant
Riot
has
announced
plans
to
try
and
snap
up
smaller
miner
Bitfarms
in
a
hostile
takeover,
which
if
successful
would
turn
the
resulting
entity
into
the
world’s
largest
publicly-traded
miner. 

The
American
miner

announced

Tuesday
that
it
had
made
a
private
proposal
last
month,
but
Bitfarms
rejected
the
offer. 

Riot
said
today
it
has
accumulated
a
9.25%
stake
in
Bitfarms
to
become
the
miner’s
largest
shareholder—and
is
now
offering
to
buy
it
for
$2.30
per
share. 

Bitfarms
shares
(NASDAQ:
BITF)
were
up
on
the
news
and
have
today
risen
by
nearly
8%,
currently
trading
for
$2.18
a
pop. 

“We
were
disappointed
to
learn
that
the
Bitfarms
board
rejected
our
compelling
proposal
without
engaging
in
substantive
dialogue
with
us,”
Riot
executive
chairman
Benjamin
Yi
said
in
a
statement. 

“While
we
have
long
respected
Bitfarms’
business
and
management
team,
we
are
confident
that
Bitfarms’
shareholders
will
agree
that
this
proposal
represents
a
significantly
more
attractive
alternative
for
Bitfarms
than
its
standalone
trajectory,”
he
added.

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Riot
CEO
Jason
Less
said
that
Bitfarms
had
mismanaged
its
business,
following
the
recent
dismissal
of
Bitfarms
CEO
Geoffrey
Morphy.

“We
are
deeply
concerned
that
the
founders
on
the
Bitfarms
board—Nicolas
Bonta
and
Emiliano
Grodzki—may
not
be
acting
in
the
best
interests
of
all
Bitfarms
shareholders,”
he
said,
adding
that
the
abrupt
termination
of
Morphy
and
the
fired
executive’s
lawsuit
“raise
serious
questions.”

Bitfarms
fired
Morphy
this
month
after
he
filed
a
lawsuit
against
the
miner
claiming
$27
million
in
damages
for
breach
of
contract.

The
company
declined
to
respond
to


Decrypt’s
questions.

Edited
by
Andrew
Hayward