1.1 million shares of options can't buy AI transformation: The computing power war behind Riot executives' departure

Author: Heart of Computing Power

On April 12, 2026, one of North America’s largest Bitcoin mining companies, Riot Platforms, disclosed in SEC documents that Chief Data Center Officer Gibbs (Jonathan Gibbs) has left the company.

He directly forfeited 1.1 million unvested restricted stock units.

At this time, just ten months after he was high-profile recruited, a heavyweight executive who hadn’t even fully utilized his options has also walked away, simply to leave.

Where exactly is this mining company’s AI transformation plan stuck?

1. The mining farm allocated 600 MW to AI, but the people brought in left

Gibbs is 38 years old. Before joining Riot, he was Executive Vice President of Product Delivery at Prime Data Centers, a company that builds customized data centers for cloud service providers and large enterprises, responsible for designing, developing, and constructing data centers across the U.S., with over a decade of experience in infrastructure.

Riot’s recruitment of him clearly had only one purpose: to convert the 600 MW power capacity originally planned for the Texas Corsicana mining site into a data center for AI clients.

In Q1 2025, Riot also sold 3,778 bitcoins outright for cash to fund this project.

Meanwhile, the company lowered its 2025 mining hash rate target from 46.7 EH/s to 38.4 EH/s.

Mining is shrinking, AI is expanding, the direction is very clear.

Insiders point out: “A mining company willing to cut its hash rate target, sell its coins to build data centers—this was unimaginable two years ago. But the problem is, after cutting the target, selling coins, and hiring people, the people still left.”

Gibbs joined in June 2025 and left in April 2026, serving less than a year.

Riot has not publicly explained the reason for Gibbs’s departure.

SEC documents only show the stock options were canceled, with no disclosure about the reason for leaving.

But Gibbs forfeited about $18.7 million in potential earnings by leaving, which isn’t something a normal job change can explain.

So, where exactly is this 600 MW AI transformation plan stuck?

2. The electricity for mining and AI are not the same

In fact, the distance between mining farms and AI data centers is much greater than Riot’s investors think.

Bitcoin mining’s infrastructure requirements can be summarized in six words: just electricity and network.

The plant doesn’t need constant temperature and humidity; machines can be restarted after shutdown, and even hours of power outage only result in mining a few fewer coins.

But AI data centers are completely different.

Industry insiders break down this gap specifically: “Mining farms usually have N redundancy, just enough to keep running. AI data centers require N+1 or even 2N, with each power supply line having independent backup, and switching times in milliseconds. This kind of upgrade isn’t just about adding a few generators; the entire power distribution architecture has to be redesigned.”

Besides power, environment is another major challenge.

Nvidia’s H100 chips consume 700W, and their temperature exceeds 80°C, which causes throttling. Traditional air cooling limits are around 12-15 kW per cabinet, which can’t handle AI loads, requiring liquid cooling systems. But designing the piping, circulating coolant, leak detection—each of these is an independent engineering project for mining companies.

Furthermore, enterprise cloud clients demand over 99.99% availability, with unplanned downtime limited to no more than 52 minutes per year.

Mining farms have never faced such constraints.

Industry insiders add: “Mining companies do have inherent advantages in transforming to AI, but AI isn’t just mining. Each process has different standards, and project timelines can spiral out of control, budgets can blow up, and people can burn out.”

Riot’s Corsicana site was originally built to mining standards. Converting it into an enterprise-grade AI data center is essentially a complete overhaul.

Gibbs was brought in specifically for this task, but after ten months, he left. As of this report, Riot has not announced a successor.

Could it be that this level of transformation is too much for Riot to handle?

3. Q1 financial report: mining profits, transformation costs money

Riot’s 2025 annual financial report looks like two different companies.

On the positive side, revenue hit $647.4 million, a record high, up 72% from the previous year.

Bitcoin mining revenue was $576.3 million, also a new high, with 5,686 coins mined over the year—more than 800 coins more than the previous year.

The company holds 18,005 bitcoins, valued at about $1.6 billion at year-end prices, plus over $300 million in cash.

On the negative side, the full-year net loss was $663.2 million, compared to a profit of $109.4 million the previous year.

A swing from earning $100M to losing $660 million in one year, a difference of over $700 million.

Adjusted EBITDA (profit after excluding non-operating factors) plummeted from $463.2 million in 2024 to just $12.96 million.

The huge loss mainly stems from the paper losses caused by Bitcoin price fluctuations and investments in AI transformation.

In this context, in Q1 2026, Riot continued selling coins to raise funds, selling 3,778 bitcoins for $289.5 million.

While cutting mining expansion, they increased management expenses for AI data centers.

But the problem is, the person responsible for AI transformation just left, and there have been no public updates on the project’s progress. Meanwhile, Bitcoin price volatility could wipe out another quarter’s profits at any time.

Industry insiders say: “The story of mining companies transforming into AI is perfectly logical on paper because AI’s endgame is electricity, and miners hold grid capacity. But execution always has issues. For example, Riot’s first executive left after just ten months.”

Riot has not announced a new Chief Data Center Officer.

The 600 MW AI data center plan is currently without a leader.

When the tide recedes, will those AI data centers built with Bitcoin sale proceeds bring stable, long-term income, or will they just be a pile of idle power equipment?

After all, forcibly changing a company’s fundamental DNA is always much harder than swapping out a graphics card.