The AI vs Bitcoin stand-off is on
And the AI camp is in the lead so far
Not trying to be divisive, but we’re starting to witness a standoff between pure bitcoin mining companies and those who have expanded their business footprints to HPC (high-performance computing) and AI hosting. So far, it seems the AI camp is gaining the upper hand—at least this month.
Just this past week, we saw reports of Bit Digital procuring more GPUs for AI revenues, Core Scientific expanding hosting capacity for CoreWeave, Soluna raising $12.5 million and Hut 8 securing an $150 million investment for their respective AI expansion campaigns.
In the May 23 issue, we discussed the potential of IREN, BTBT, and HUT given their positions on the lower end of the price-to-hash ratio chart analyzed by our research arm, TheMinerMag, and the fact that they all have ongoing AI business plans.
And below is a chart outlining the one-month performance of 18 assets: 17 mining companies with various business models and bitcoin itself.
Among the top 50% performers, seven companies are actively pursuing AI initiatives, although only a few have reported actual revenues from the HPC segment.
GRIID and Stronghold, both in the top 50%, have not yet announced any AI-related business expansions but GRIID had a strong rally over the past week amid rumors of a potential acquisition. Meanwhile, Stronghold announced earlier its intention to explore opportunities for selling some of its assets, including hosting and power generation capacities.
Meanwhile, most of the stocks in the bottom 50% are pure bitcoin mining operations with 100% capacities dedicated to SHA-256, including Marathon (well, not so much 100% now with the KAS mining), Riot and CleanSpark – the three largest public mining companies by market cap. This is not exactly surprising, given bitcoin’s hashprice is again approaching all-time lows below $50/PH/s 😣
HIVE appears to be the only mining operation that has an active HPC business but whose stock is in the bottom 50% of the chart, although it still has a much higher return over the past month than major pure mining companies.
HIVE released the financial earnings for Q1 this week, revealing an increase in revenue from the HPC segment, rising about 60% from $1.1 million in Q4 to $1.8 million in Q1. It had a 10% rally on Wednesday alone, outperforming all other mining stocks except GRIID.
Regulation News
North Tonawanda Residents Urge DEC to Reject Crypto Mining Company Application - Spectrum News
Hardware and Infrastructure News
Foundry Launches Bitcoin Mining Support Hardware - TheMinerMag
Bitcoin Tumble Sends Hashprice Near All-time Lows - TheMinerMag
CoreWeave Expands AI Hosting at Core Scientific to 270MW - TheMinerMag
Marathon Expands to Altcoin Mining with 30 PH/s on Kaspa - TheMinerMag
Canaan Launches A1566I Immersion Miner with Minimal Efficiency Gains - TheMinerMag
Corporate News
Marathon’s BTC Mining is Heating an Entire Town in Finland - CoinTelegraph
Greenidge Launches Modular Bitcoin Mining Container Pod X - Link
Riot Seeks Three Bitfarms Board Seats in Bitcoin Miner Takeover Fight – Bloomberg
Bit Digital May Sell Digital Assets to Fund GPU Expansion for AI Race - TheMinerMag
Financial News
Hut 8 Secures $150M from CoreWeave Investor for AI Push - TheMinerMag
Soluna Raises $12.5 Million, Secures Hosting for Generative AI Workloads - Link
GRIID Rally Continues as Shares Quadruple Within Week - TheMinerMag
Hut 8, Core Scientific Set to Join Russell 3000 Index Next Week - TheMinerMag
Feature
Trump’s Bitcoin Mining Gambit to Outmaneuver Biden - TheMinerMag
Dogecoin’s Newest ASIC Miner - The Mining Pod
Bitcoin Mining Sector Is Attracting Growing Investor Interest Following Core Scientific Deal: JPMorgan - CoinDesk
INTERVIEW: Bitmain’s Newest ASIC Miner - The Mining Pod
Inside Hut 8’s AI ambitions after securing $150M in funding - Blockworks