Riot Blockchain stock edges lower after November bitcoin production report

Riot Blockchain ( NASDAQ: RIOT ) fell as much as 4.8% before paring losses on Monday after reporting November bitcoin production figures. The bitcoin miner produced 521 BTC, up ~12% Y/Y but below its expected production of ~660 BTC due to variance in the mining pool it participates in. However, it was the firm's highest monthly BTC production figure to date. Riot ( RIOT ) had a deployed fleet of 72.4K miners, with a hash rate capacity of 7.7 EH/s as of November 30 - which the firm said was a new record. "Despite this new level of production, expected production was ~660 BTC given our operating hash rate over the month, assuming normalized performance of the mining pool we participate in. Variance in a mining pool can impact results and while this variance should balance out over time, can be volatile in the short term. This variance led to lower BTC production than expected, relative to our hash rate," said Riot ( RIOT ) CEO Jason Les. The company held ~6,897 BTC, produced by its self-mining operations, as of November 30 and sold 450 BTC during the month for ~$8.1M. Les said the firm will transition to another mining pool that offers a more consistent reward mechanism to ensure more predictable results going forward During November, Riot received 10.5K new S19-series miners and increased its deployed fleet by 6.9K S19-series miners, with ~6,912 miners staged for deployment. Once deployed, the firm expects to have 79.3K miners deployed with a hash rate capacity of ~9.7 EH/s. During Q1, Riot ( RIOT ) expects total self-mining hash rate capacity of 12.5 EH/s. Shares of Riot ( RIOT ) declined 78% YTD, with SA Quant rating the stock Strong Sell .