Riot Blockchain Inc is a listed company with the symbol RIOT.
The company, formerly called Bioptix, is focused on the blockchain ecosystem through its cryptocurrency mining operations, joint ventures, targeted investments in the industry and other internally developed activities.
The focus is mainly on Bitcoin and blockchain technology in general, and covers multiple activities.
For example, the company owns approximately 8,000 bitcoin mining ASICs within its Oklahoma facility, while through its subsidiary it is seeking to develop Tesspay, a blockchain-based wholesale escrow service for telecommunications carriers.
It also holds a 13% stake in the Canadian crypto exchange Coinsquare, and other companies.
It therefore operates both directly, for example through its own physical mining business, and through third parties, thanks to an investment portfolio that, in addition to Coinsquare, also includes Verady, a company that provides accounting and cryptocurrency audit services through the VeraNet platform, and TESS for Tesspay.
From Bioptix to Riot Blockchain
The company has been listed on the Nasdaq since 2003, when it was still called Bioptix. In fact, the performance of the stock on the stock exchange is clearly divided into two parts.
When it was called Bioptix, the price of its shares was quite volatile.
It debuted on the markets in March 2003 with a price of $888 per share, but by October 2004 the price had already fallen to $124.
However, three years later, in October 2007, it had plummeted to $3,400, but then fell back to $359 in January 2009 and then to $10 in August 2012.
At this point, a new phase in its share price began, although it never went back above $50.
Over the past eight years, the price has continued to fall, with less volatility than before, first hitting a low below $2 in February 2016, then rising to $36 in early 2018, during the last big bubble in the crypto markets, before plummeting back to a new low of $1.45 in December 2018.
Since then the price seemed to have recovered, but the collapse of the financial markets in mid-March 2020 brought it down to $0.51. After this resounding collapse, it has risen again and recently stabilized at just over $2.
