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Bitcoin mining company Riot Platforms has increased its stake in rival Bitfarms to 18.9% by purchasing an additional million shares, despite an ongoing tense relationship between the two firms. Riot tried to acquire Bitfarms for $950 million in May, but this was declined. Since then, Riot has continued pressure tactics, leading to the departure of Bitfarms’ co-founder Nicolas Bonta in August. Riot recently expanded by buying Kentucky-based Block Mining for $92.5 million. Future investment in Bitfarms is undecided, but further board changes are possible.

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Riot Platforms, one of the big guns in Bitcoin mining, recently upped its stake in Bitfarms Ltd., a rival company. They bought an extra million shares of Bitfarms for around $2.28 million.

Riot now owns a whopping 18.9% of Bitfarms, up by a million shares from their previous 84.3 million. This gives them a pretty solid say in how things go down at the Canadian mining firm.

Behind the scenes, the relationship between these two cryptocurrency mining giants has been a bit tense. In May, Riot tried to buy Bitfarms for $950 million, but Bitfarms shot them down, saying their company is worth more than that.

To keep Riot from trying a hostile takeover, Bitfarms adopted a “poison pill” defense. But, the Canadian regulators weren’t having any of that and argued against it.

Even though Riot decided to give up on buying Bitfarms, they continued to apply pressure by pushing for a shareholder meeting in June. They wanted to get rid of some of Bitfarms’ directors and replace them with their own choices.

It seems their aggressive tactics are working. Early August saw the departure of Bitfarms’ co-founder and chair, Nicolas Bonta, who was among the directors Riot wanted replaced.

In the meantime, Riot hasn’t decided if it will further increase its investment in Bitfarms. But it’s keeping an eye out and may propose additional changes to the company’s board if necessary.

Elsewhere, Riot’s expansions are flourishing. In July, they bought Kentucky-based Block Mining for $92.5 million, marking a significant increase in Riot’s mining power and widening their footprint beyond their Texas homebase. They completed the deal with $18.5 million in cash, $74 million in Riot shares, and a possible earn-out of up to $32.5 million by 2025. This depends on whether Block Mining can secure more power purchase agreements.

Source: Cointelegraph