Riot Blockchain jumps after announcing an 80% increase in bitcoin production as the cryptocurrency pushes past $60,000

• Riot Blockchain stock jumped as much as 12% on Monday amid Bitcoin's brief run above $60,000.
• The cryptocurrency mining company also announced an 80% increase in mining production.
• Riot produced 187 bitcoin in March alone and 491 bitcoin in the first quarter of 2021.
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Riot Blockchain's stock jumped as much as 12% on Monday after the company announced an 80% increase in bitcoin mining production and the cryptocurrency briefly pushed past $60,000 per coin.

In a press release that came out early Monday morning, Riot Blockchain said that in March 2021, it produced 187 bitcoin. That's 80% more than the company's mining operations produced a year ago, before bitcoin's halving.

A bitcoin "halving" is when the reward for mining Bitcoin transactions is cut in half. The last halving occurred on May 11, 2020.

The 80% jump in bitcoin mining production despite a tough comparison from the pre-halving quarter is illustrative of Riot's continued push for mining dominance.

Riot produced 491 bitcoin in the first quarter of 2021, an increase of 75% over its pre-halving first quarter 2020 production of 281 BTC.

The bitcoin mining company now holds some 1,565 bitcoin on its balance sheet, worth roughly $94 million at current prices, according to data from the company.

The news of Riot's rising bitcoin production comes after the firm inked a deal to acquire the largest bitcoin mining facility in North America, Whinstone US, for roughly $650 million last week.

Riot also recently announced that it picked up an additional 42,000 S19j Antminers from Bitmain for $138.5 million on April 7.

By the fourth quarter of 2022, the firm expects to have a total hash rate capacity of 7.7 exahash per second (EH/s) and a fleet of roughly 81,146 Antminers.

Riot also recently bolstered its management team with the addition of Megan Brooks as Chief Operating Officer, Phil McPherson as Vice President of Capital Markets, and Ryan Werner as Vice President of Finance.

HC Wainwright & Co. reiterated its "buy" rating on shares of Riot and tagged the firm with a $64 price target on April 1 as well.

Shares of Riot traded up 8.75% as of 11:28 a.m. ET on Monday.