U.S. Bitcoin mining giant Riot Platforms disclosed on November 4 that it has switched custody of its digital assets from NYDIG Trust Company LLC to BitGo Bank & Trust, National Association, and completed the transfer. The migration was completed as of October 29, and the custody agreement with NYDIG that had been in place since November 2023 terminated automatically. No early-termination penalty was incurred, the company said.
Riot is a Nasdaq-listed Bitcoin mining company. The migration follows a new agreement it signed with BitGo on October 7 and disclosed in a Form 8-K current report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on October 14. Under the new agreement, Riot's digital assets are in principle held in a segregated account dedicated to Riot and kept separate from the assets of other customers and of BitGo itself. Ownership of the assets remains with Riot during the custody period.
The new agreement has an initial term of one year and renews automatically unless either party gives notice at least 60 days before expiration. An amendment made before the transfer was completed also added a clause allowing Riot to terminate early with 14 days' written notice without paying a penalty. BitGo's liability is in principle limited to the custody fees paid during the six months immediately preceding the event giving rise to a claim, with exceptions for fraud, willful misconduct or gross negligence. Riot plans to file the custody agreement and amendment as exhibits to its annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ending December 2026.
The custody change comes alongside moves involving the company's Bitcoin holding policy and fundraising. Riot sold 20,264 BTC between January and September 2026, raising about $1.5 billion, mainly to fund expansion of its data center business. Its holdings had fallen to 2,418 BTC (about $202 million) as of the end of September, while cash and equivalents stood at $748.2 million (including restricted funds).
Note: Figures are based on company disclosures.
In September, the company also repaid the outstanding balance and accrued interest on a $200 million Bitcoin-collateralized credit facility with Coinbase Credit and terminated it. The lien on 5,821 BTC pledged as collateral as of the end of June was also released.
The focus of the business is shifting toward data centers, particularly artificial intelligence (AI)-related infrastructure. In August, it signed a $9.1 billion data center contract covering 191 megawatts at its Rockdale, Texas, facility. In its November earnings announcement, it newly disclosed a 15-year lease covering 910 megawatts in Corsicana, with an initial contract value estimated at about $28 billion. Total contracted capacity has reached 1,151 megawatts, and expected revenue over the initial term of each contract amounts to about $38 billion.
In its July–September quarterly results, revenue edged up to $181.4 million from $180.2 million a year earlier. Bitcoin mining revenue, meanwhile, fell to $116 million from $160.8 million. The amount mined itself rose to 1,637 BTC from 1,406 BTC, and the revenue decline appears to reflect fluctuations in the Bitcoin price and network difficulty.
In the latest disclosure, Riot did not specify its reasons for changing custodians or the quantity of digital assets transferred. Concerns over exchange failures and the segregation of assets have continued to simmer in the crypto industry, and institutional investors and listed companies are increasingly diversifying custodians and scrutinizing contract terms. Riot's migration is also seen as a choice that prioritizes contractual flexibility and segregated asset management.
Market participants are watching how mining companies are simultaneously selling held Bitcoin and investing in data center businesses. Riot's share price is easily swayed by two factors—the Bitcoin price and progress on AI infrastructure contracts—and the custody change itself is seen as having a limited impact on short-term earnings. Still, if its Bitcoin holdings continue to shrink, its sensitivity to crypto prices would decline while execution risk on data center contracts could emerge as a major driver of the stock.
