Bitcoin Miner Takeover Battle Cools Down as Riots and Bitfarms Settlements Reach

Bitcoin Mining giant Riot Platforms appeared to score a key victory on Monday in its bid to forcibly acquire Canadian rival Bitfarms. After both companies announced the merger agreement of Riot's chosen executive to the BitFarms board of directors.

Earlier this year, Riot tried to buy BitFarms for $950 million. The BitFarms board dismissed the offer as lowball. Since then, Riot has continuously vacuumed up Bitfarms shares in an attempt to aggressively dominate, a strategy that has now led to its ownership. some 20% Canadian company.

In June, Riot Pushed. Replacing many Bitfarms board members with individuals who may be more amenable to acquisitions. One of those candidates is Amy Friedman, a former banker and corporate consultant who will now join the BitFarms board. She will also join the BitFarms management and nomination and compensation committees.

Bitfarms co-founder Andres Finkelstein has already stepped down from the board.

While the move isn't a total win for Riot — the company has yet to close its jaws around Bitfarms — it represents a step in the desired direction. In today's settlement, Riot will be given certain rights to buy additional BitFarms shares as long as its ownership stake remains above 15%.

“This agreement represents an important step in advancing the creation of shareholder value for each of our companies, and we are pleased to have reached this constructive decision with Bitfarms,” ​​Riot CEO Jason Les said in a statement. “As Bitfarms' largest shareholder, we look forward to supporting a reformed Bitfarms board and continuing our relationship with management.”

While BitFarms appears to have made a strategic deal with Riot today, the small company has been actively pursuing other ways to counter hostile raids in recent weeks. Late last month, Stronghold acquired Digital Mining, yet another crypto mining firm, in a move by experts. They spoke Decrypt A Riot raid could raise Bitfarms' valuation to make it impossible.

Shares of BitFarms have fallen nearly 16% in the past month, but were trading at $2.06 at the time of writing — up nearly 3% on the day. Riot's share price reviewed similar moves, down 14 percent from last month, but up 2 percent so far Monday.

Edited by Andrew Hayward.