Crypto catches M&A frenzy as bitcoin miners chase AI boom

Crypto companies are suddenly at the center of deal-making. The catalyst is artificial intelligence.

Bitcoin mining companies have expansive data centers, with access to fiber lines and large amounts of power across the U.S. They’re exactly the types of facilities needed for compute-intensive AI operations, which means their sites and technology are in high demand.

Meanwhile, miners need to diversify. Following the bitcoin halving in April, an event that happens about once every four years, the business of generating new tokens has become much less profitable. JPMorgan Chase analysts wrote in a report earlier this month that “some operators are feeling the financial pinch from the recent block reward halving, which cut industry revenues in half, and are actively exploring exit strategies.”

With the burgeoning AI industry in need of capacity and bitcoin miners in search of new ways to generate returns on their hefty capital investments, mergers, financings and partnerships are rapidly coming together.

On Tuesday, U.S. bitcoin miner Core Scientific announced an expanded deal with CoreWeave, an Nvidia-backed startup that’s one of the main providers of the chipmaker’s technology for running AI models. Core Scientific will deliver 70 megawatts of computing infrastructure to support CoreWeave’s operations.

Core Scientific said the deal will generate an additional $1.2 billion in revenue over 12 years, on top of an existing arrangement that is expected to bring in $3.5 billion. In total, the company plans to provide about 270 megawatts of infrastructure to CoreWeave by the second half of 2025, with the possibility of adding an additional 230 megawatts at other Core Scientific sites.

Earlier this month, CoreWeave offered to buy Core Scientific for $1.02 billion, not long after their initial agreement. Core Scientific rejected the bid. The company, which returned to the public market in January after going through bankruptcy, is currently worth about $1.8 billion.

“The world is changing, and many data centers built in the last 20 years are not suitable to support future computing requirements,” Core Scientific CEO Adam Sullivan said in Tuesday’s press release.

A day before that announcement, bitcoin mining group Hut 8 said it raised $150 million in debt from private equity firm Coatue to help it build out its data center portfolio for AI.

Hut 8, based in Miami, is one of many…