Bitcoin Mining Giant Riot Platforms Ramps Up Rival Bitfarms Takeover Effort By Increasing Stake To 14%

Bitcoin BTC/USD mining giant Riot Platforms Inc. RIOT has upped its stake in rival Bitfarms Ltd. BITF to 14% by purchasing an additional $3.87 million worth of shares as part of its ongoing hostile takeover bid.

What Happened: Riot Platforms procured another 1,432,063 shares of Bitfarms at approximately $2.70 per share, The Block reported Thursday. This latest acquisition brings Riot’s total ownership to 57.62 million shares, or about 14% of Bitfarms.

Bitfarms had earlier this week implemented a “poison pill” strategy to prevent the takeover, a move that would dilute the stake of any entity acquiring more than 15% of Bitfarms’ stake after June 20 and up to Sept. 10.

Riot Platforms’ CEO, Jason Les, criticized Bitfarms’ recent efforts to block the takeover, saying, “Instead of engaging with us privately and in good faith, Bitfarms has responded by implementing an off-market poison pill with a trigger well below the customary 20% threshold.”

See Also: Here’s How Much Trump Could Have Had Today If He Didn’t Sell His Ethereum Back In December

Why It Matters: Last month, Riot attempted to acquire Bitfarms for an estimated $950 million. It increased its stake to 12% last week.

Due to concerns regarding the latter's corporate governance, Riot has expressed its intention to call for a special shareholder meeting to include independent directors on Bitfarms' board.

In the meanwhile, Bitfarms announced plans to develop its first large-scale mining site in the U.S. at Pennsylvania.

Photo by Gaston Cerliani on Shutterstock

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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.