The operator of one of the world's largest bitcoin mining facilities made more money from shutting down a computer park than from mining digital coins in the past month.
Amid an historic heatwave in the US state of Texas, the Riot Blockchain received around $9.5 million in electricity credits for shutting down local bitcoin prospecting facilities.
The credits will be applied to the company's utility bills and are worth approximately 439 bitcoins.
The number of bitcoins mined last month despite mining throttling stood at 318, down 28 percent from the previous month, according to Riot's monthly production and operations report.
The publicly traded company generated approximately $5.6 million in net proceeds from the Bitcoin sale in July.
275 digital coins were sold.
In Texas, nearly all major bitcoin miners shut down their facilities as intense heat plunged the state into a severe power crisis in early July.
Riot Blockchain has a 750-megawatt mining facility and is building another 1-gigawatt in the state.
While the energy crunch drove up electricity prices and made bitcoin mining unprofitable, some large mines were able to sell electricity previously purchased at a lower price back to the grid at a premium.
Low bitcoin prices and energy price hikes caused by the Ukraine war and heatwaves have severely hurt miners' earnings in recent months.
Large miners are selling their mined coins to maintain cash flow and fund the expansion they planned during the last rally.
These mines have been able to absorb some of the losses from high energy prices and business disruption, and even make a profit that depends on their power purchase agreement, explained BTIG analyst Gregory Lewis.
Riot participates in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas' Four Confident Peak program, in which the 750-megawatt Rockdale, Texas, prospector will throttle power usage when the company is asked to do so during the four summer months of peak energy demand.