California’s Pension Fund Increased Its Stakes In Riot Blockchain

California’s pension fund which is the biggest public pension fund in the US bought more RIOT shares for the first since 2017, increasing its stakes in the BTC miner about seven times in the Q4 of 2020 amid the meteoric run-up in the BTC price as we are reading more in today’s blockchain news.

The Public Employees’ Retirement System (CALPERS), California’s pension fund held 113,034 shares in RIOT worth more than $1.9 million at the end of 2020 according to a Tuesday filing. That’s an increase from the third quarter of 2020 when the fund had 16,907 RIOT shares worth about $49.000. the biggest public pension fund in the US was holding firm on about 17,000 rIOT shares since acquiring them during the 2017 bull run and this position varied since then.

Riot spiked 541% in the fourth quarter of 2020 while BTC increased 174% for the quarter. The pensions fund board members included blockchain technologies as a future-forward investment chance during the public Forum in 2016.

Speaking of Riot, The Riot blockchain mining company expanded its size and sophistication of the mining operations in 2020 including the planned pilot project back in Texas to test water immersion and cooling technology by also purchasing over 31,000 new ASIC mining machines. The company pivoted its business model from biotech to BTC mining in October 2017 when the value of the company was less than $50 million.

As reported previously in our news, Riot Blockchain- a Nasdaq-listed company previously known as Bioptix, turned out to have major material weaknesses according to auditors reports. Since 2018, Riot Blockchain had about $225,000 compared to the previous $42 million when the bitcoin price reached its all-time high. In the meantime, the company’s mining operation was able to generate about $7.7 million in revenue. The revenue comes after the production of 1,081 bitcoins including Bitcoin Cash and 3,023 Litecoins for the same year. The company’s auditor warned that Riot failed to maintain ‘’proper financial reporting protocols.”

If the financial statements of the company reflect the management history of Riot Blockchain, it’s no wonder why they are under constant investigation. After the company changed its name, Riot had three changes in the CEO positions. Most recently, the company chose Jeff McGonegal to be the new CEO. In 2018, John O’Rourke, now ex-CEO of the company, resigned after he was charged with market manipulation by the SEC. The charges were, however, not related to Riot Blockchain. After John, Chirs Ensey was hired as an interim CEO during the restructuring of the company but has since left Riot.