Bitcoin miners are landing contracts with some of the world’s largest technology companies. This happens as they pivot from cryptocurrency mining to artificial intelligence infrastructure, according to recent research from CoinShares.
Many of companies leading this shift are held in the actively managed CoinShares Valkyrie Bitcoin Miners ETF (WGMI), where the two largest positions — Iris Energy (IREN) and Cipher Mining Inc. (CIFR) — recently announced AI infrastructure contracts totaling more than $15 billion combined, according to a CoinShares report published in early November.
WGMI holds $261 million in assets and has returned 74.7% year-to-date, according to ETF Database.
Iris Energy signed a $9.7 billion, five-year agreement with Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) to provide 200 MW of GPU cloud capacity, according to the report. The buildout will require roughly $5.8 billion in capital expenditures in partnership with NVIDIA Corp. (NVDA) and Dell Technologies Inc. (DELL), and will deploy around 78,000 GPUs at Iris’s Childress, Texas campus.
Cipher Mining revealed a $5.5 billion, 15-year co-location agreement with Amazon’s (AMZN) Amazon Web Services and simultaneously announced a 95%-owned joint venture to develop a 1 GW data center in West Texas, according to the report.
Together, Iris Energy and Cipher Mining make up nearly 40% of WGMI’s portfolio. They are at 21.3% and 18.1% respectively, according to data from ETF Database.
Bitcoin Miners Tap Power Infrastructure
The deals show how miners are using their existing power infrastructure and converting cryptocurrency mining facilities into high-performance compute centers. These centers can service major technology companies, according to CoinShares.
Other WGMI holdings are making similar moves. TeraWulf Inc. (WULF), which represents 6.7% of the fund, announced an expansion in partnership with Fluidstack to add 168 MW of critical IT load for 25 years representing $9.5 billion in value, according to a separate CoinShares report.
CleanSpark Inc. (CLSK), which makes up 3.7% of the portfolio, partnered with Submer to deploy liquid-cooled systems across its 1 GW+ portfolio and 2 GW development pipeline for AI-focused data centers, according to the report.
Despite its Bitcoin mining focus, WGMI is gaining exposure to AI infrastructure. It contains holdings that are securing contracts with Microsoft and Amazon. The shift adds revenue streams from technology clients alongside cryptocurrency mining operations.
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