+$62M one quarter.
−$500M the next.
Same business.
Riot's reported profit is dominated by Bitcoin's price moving, not by the business getting better or worse.
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✦ The bottom line
Riot lost $663M in 2025. But a huge chunk of its reported profit (and loss) is just Bitcoin being re-priced on the balance sheet each quarter — a paper swing, not cash. The real question for a company like this isn't quarterly 'profit'; it's how it's funding itself while it loses money building the pivot.
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✦ Teach me
Mark-to-market (why the profit swings)
Riot holds the Bitcoin it mines. Under today's accounting, it must re-value that hoard at the current market price every quarter and run the change through earnings — the 'change in fair value of bitcoin' line.
So when Bitcoin rises, Riot books a big paper gain; when it falls, a big paper loss. Neither is cash that came in or went out. It's the same coins, re-priced.
Wall Street calls this
Fair-value remeasurement
It means Riot's headline profit is partly a *bet on Bitcoin's price*, bolted onto an operating business. To judge the business, you have to mentally strip the mark-to-market out.
Net loss · fiscal year 2025
−$663
M
A large reported loss — but it blends real operating costs, non-cash charges, and the swing in Bitcoin's marked value. The most recent quarter alone swung to a ~$500M loss as Bitcoin re-priced.
Source · 10-K · Consolidated Statements of Operations · FY2025 · Filed Mar 2, 2026
If the business loses money and the 'profit' is a Bitcoin bet, how does Riot keep the lights on and fund billion-dollar data-center build-outs? Two ways — and both are the heart of the risk: it sells new shares (diluting existing owners), and it holds a treasury of Bitcoin it can sell. It is not funding this from operating cash.
What Riot owns vs. owes
Cash
~$0.23B
Total debt
~$0.84B
Little cash against real debt — so Riot funds itself by selling shares and Bitcoin, not from operations.
Reported profit is dominated by Bitcoin mark-to-market. The business loses money and is funded by share sales + a Bitcoin treasury — not operating cash. Watch dilution.
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Chapter 2 · FINANCIAL HEALTH
Is This Profit Even Real?
you now read: real cash left over (free cash flow)