Bitfarms Adopts New ‘Poison Pill’ Strategy After Tribunal Sides with Rival Riot Platforms

cryptonews.com:

Bitfarms, a prominent Bitcoin mining firm, has adopted a new ‘poison pill’ strategy following the Ontario Capital Markets Tribunal’s termination of its initial plan to fend off a hostile takeover attempt by rival Riot Platforms.

This latest move came following an ongoing, intensifying conflict between the two companies as Riot Platforms aggressively pursues control over Bitfarms.

The Ontario Capital Markets Tribunal recently issued a cease-trade order on Bitfarms’ initial poison pill strategy, effectively disabling it.

This shareholder rights plan, adopted in early June, was intended to prevent Riot Platforms from acquiring more than 15% of Bitfarms’ shares.

The first poison pill stated that if an entity accumulated more than 15% of Bitfarms’ stake, the company would issue fresh shares, diluting the entity’s stake.

Riot’s CEO, Jason Les, lauded the tribunal’s decision as a victory for Bitfarms’ shareholders, criticizing the initial poison pill as indicative of flawed corporate governance. He said,

“This ruling from the Tribunal in favor of Riot’s application is a win for all Bitfarms shareholders. The adoption of the off-market Poison Pill is yet another example of the broken corporate governance that plagues Bitfarms and of the ongoing attempts by the Bitfarms directors to entrench themselves. We appreciate that the Tribunal acted quickly and decisively to remove the Poison Pill.”

Following the tribunal’s ruling, Bitfarms quickly implemented a new ‘poison pill’ strategy , or shareholder rights plan, on Wednesday, to protect against “creeping” bids.

This plan will be activated if any entity accumulates over 20% of Bitfarms’ shares without board approval.

The plan will be effective for six months. It allows existing