LIVE MARKETS-AI turns bitcoin miners into power brokers

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AI TURNS BITCOIN MINERS INTO POWER BROKERS

The race to power energy-thirsty data centres is forcing bitcoin miners into a strategy rethink, freeing them from crypto volatility and fuelling a re-rating typical of the AI boom.

Many are shifting from mining coins to helping supply power to hyperscalers under long-term contracts - a pivot that is redefining how investors view this niche corner of the market.

"This is a fundamental shift," said Luca Moro, CIO at SpesX, a long-short fund focused on the energy transition. "Bitcoin miners have the land, the grid connections and the power capacity. And now they're selling electrons to AI firms instead of mining coins."

The mining business itself is "terrible and capital-intensive," Moro noted, but their ready-to-use power generation capacity is making them emerge alongside renewables as one of the fastest solutions to meet surging AI demand.

One example is Terawulf WULF.O, which has doubled in value since announcing in August a 10-year deal with Google-backed AI cloud platform Fluidstack. Its shares popped 17% on Tuesday after results and expanding that partnership.

Recent deals involving miners such as Cleanspark CLSK.O, Core Scientific CORZ.O and Iris Energy IREN.N underscore this trend.

Moro said such deals radically change how investors value these firms. "A bitcoin miner might trade at three to four times EBITDA But a company with a 20-year power contract... becomes an infrastructure asset worth closer to 15 times EBITDA."

(Danilo Masoni)

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