The $7 trillion asset management giant Vanguard Group now owns a 10.24% stake in Riot Blockchain (NASDAQ: RIOT) – the world’s largest Bitcoin mining company.
- A filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Monday showed that Vanguard has upped its exposure to the firm from 15.2 million shares to 17.9 million.
- Based on Riot’s current share price, Vanguard’s stake is now worth $295 million.
- The company also bought millions of shares in competing firm Marathon Digital, increasing its holdings from 10.9 million shares to 17.5 million. The investment is of roughly equal value to Vanguard’s Riot stake at $296 million.
- Both Riot and Marathon are up roughly 400% year to date, mimicking the trajectory of other mining firms, and outperforming the already strong gains of Bitcoin (BTC) itself.
- Like many other mining firms, Riot has invested tens of millions of dollars into expanding mining infrastructure capacity this year in preparation for Bitcoin’s “halving” next year, which is widely believed to catalyze Bitcoin bull markets.
- Two years ago, Vanguard claimed on its site that the investment potential in cryptocurrencies is “weak”, yet its half-a-billion dollar stake in the mining industry may indicate a change of heart.
- Fellow asset manager BlackRock has also grown more fond of the industry with time. Once a skeptic, CEO Larry Fink likened Bitcoin to “digital gold” earlier this month, shortly after his firm applied to launch the first Bitcoin spot ETF in the United States.
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