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AI Is Here, but That Doesn’t Mean Bitcoin Miners Are Finished: Blockspace

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Anyone paying attention to public bitcoin miner markets will know that artificial intelligence (AI) and business pivots to high performance compute (HPC) are all the rage among bitcoin miners. What started as a gradual trend last year has suddenly become a business strategy that many leading public bitcoin miners are exploring.

This article first appeared on Blockspace Media, the leading Bitcoin industry publication dedicated to covering Bitcoin tech, markets, mining, and ordinals. Get Blockspace articles directly in your inbox by clicking here.

Core Scientific, Bit Digital, Hut 8, Hive and IREN currently have revenue-generating AI/HPC business lines, while Crusoe Energy and Lancium, Cipher, Terawulf, Riot and Bitfarms are in the development or exploratory phase. With SoftBank, OpenAI and others collectively pledging up to $500 billion to accelerate AI developments in the United States through the Stargate Project, which was announced in January, where does the digital oil rush leave pure-play bitcoin miners?

Kevin Dede, a managing director of equity research at investment bank H.C. Wainwright, thinks that there is plenty of room for both. In a recent episode of the Mining Pod’s Bitcoin Stock Show, Dede expressed that while he wouldn’t bet against miners who are serious about AI/HPC, he wouldn’t underestimate the prospects for pure-play bitcoin miners, either.

Does the launch of Project Stargate change the conversation on AI pivots for bitcoin miners?

I think the conversation changed when Core Scientific announced the CoreWeave deal six to eight months ago. That really shifted the dynamic. Another thing people might not consider is that bitcoin miners can compete at different scales. Project Stargate is about hyperscale facilities, but there are opportunities for smaller-scale implementations.

BitDigital and Applied Digital have shown that you don’t need hyperscale to succeed. There are many customers who want access to compute, and not all of them are hyperscalers.

Riot recently decided to pause its 600-megawatt Corsicana Phase 2 to evaluate it for AI/HPC. Why do you think they did that?

Riot has had activist investors buying stock, which is great for the stock price. The company has always been adamant about sticking to bitcoin mining. At their analyst meeting last June, CEO Jason Les said they wouldn’t do HPC.

Riot’s Corsicana facility is amazing. The question is: is 600MW of HPC worth more than 600MW of bitcoin mining? I think the answer is yes.The demand for HPC is growing, and the applications are evolving; we’re just scratching the surface. The real market is the enterprise market, where companies use AI to optimize production.

Looking at Bit Digital and Core Scientific, which company’s strategy do you think has the most upside?

Let’s start with BitDigital. They bought GPUs and rented space in northern Iceland to address the needs of one customer, who I believe is based somewhere in Europe, to run models. Now, Iceland and Europe aren’t as close as you might think, which is important if they are running inference compute sinc mainland Europe would be the primary customer for that.

The Enovum deal came through and they secured their first site, which is about four megawatts. They’ve also just opened another site that they hope to have energized by this summer, aiming for five megawatts initially with plans to scale up to 35 megawatts in HPC capacity this year. Sam Tapar, their CEO, often points out that this acquisition opened the door to a potential 288 megawatts of HPC capacity.

When it comes to assessing the risk, it really comes down to a number of factors. Bit Digital acquired a company with a proven track record of building and operating these sites. But, of course, that adds another layer of risk beyond the baseline execution risk. You’re layering on the risk that they might stumble during the construction and operation of their next set of facilities as the year progresses.

As for Core Scientific, I’d be the last person to underestimate them. They’ve brought on some really impressive talent. I asked their CEO, Adam Sullivan, about how all their plans are coming together. He said that there are a lot of people in the existing data center world whose employees are seeing limited growth trajectories. So, if you’re an employee at one of those companies and you get an offer from Core Scientific with stock options, you’re thinking, “My current options are priced in double digits, but this could go to high double digits or even triple digits.” That’s how they’ve been able to attract such great talent.

On the other hand, these new B200 chips they are using are so much more powerful but also significantly more complex, and this might play into delays for CoreWeave’s implementation at Core Scientific’s sites. I think a lot of that will come out in Core Scientific’s next earnings call in March. They’ll likely address whether they’re still on track to energize the first large CoreWeave facility in the second quarter and how they’ve tackled these networking challenges.

Do you think the greater upside of AI/HPC pushes bitcoin mining to the fringes, or can it coexist alongside HPC and AI?

I don’t think bitcoin mining is going away. The concept of a hybrid AI-bitcoin mining data center is interesting. HPC power usage isn’t as consistent as people might assume. It doesn’t run 24/7/365. It depends on what’s happening — are they running a new model? Are they supporting inference? Those power loads will fluctuate.

It’s not too hard to imagine a host having flexibility in their power purchase agreements (PPAs) to run bitcoin miners when the power isn’t needed for HPC. It’s just a matter of adjusting the load.

When you step back, it seems to me there’s room for both. We’ve talked about Corsicana, but there are plenty of other sites like those in West Texas. Mike Novogratz wants to turn Helios into an HPC center, but it’s in the middle of nowhere. You need a private plane to get there, and it’s a long drive from Lubbock. Also, it’s on wind power, so the energy is cheap, but how are you going to run inference from that site?

What’s really interesting when you look at business models is the optionality. From the hybrid perspective, you’ve got transparency. You can forecast HPC revenue and assume a certain amount of debt based on those margins. But if you keep bitcoin mining running as well, you have the opportunity to benefit from a rising bitcoin price and improving market dynamics.

I think that optionality is an opportunity some of these newer HPC-focused companies offer investors. You’ve got that steady HPC stream, and then you have the potential upside of Bitcoin hitting $200,000 this year. That’s the intriguing proposition. For that reason, I think many of these companies with experience in both will continue to do both.

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XLM Sees Heavy Volatility as Institutional Selling Weighs on Price

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Stellar’s XLM token endured sharp swings over the past 24 hours, tumbling 3% as institutional selling pressure dominated order books. The asset declined from $0.39 to $0.38 between September 14 at 15:00 and September 15 at 14:00, with trading volumes peaking at 101.32 million—nearly triple its 24-hour average. The heaviest liquidation struck during the morning hours of September 15, when XLM collapsed from $0.395 to $0.376 within two hours, establishing $0.395 as firm resistance while tentative support formed near $0.375.

Despite the broader downtrend, intraday action highlighted moments of resilience. From 13:15 to 14:14 on September 15, XLM staged a brief recovery, jumping from $0.378 to a session high of $0.383 before closing the hour at $0.380. Trading volume surged above 10 million units during this window, with 3.45 million changing hands in a single minute as bulls attempted to push past resistance. While sellers capped momentum, the consolidation zone around $0.380–$0.381 now represents a potential support base.

Market dynamics suggest distribution patterns consistent with institutional profit-taking. The persistent supply overhead has reinforced resistance at $0.395, where repeated rally attempts have failed, while the emergence of support near $0.375 reflects opportunistic buying during liquidation waves. For traders, the $0.375–$0.395 band has become the key battleground that will define near-term direction.

XLM/USD (TradingView)

Technical Indicators
  • XLM retreated 3% from $0.39 to $0.38 during the previous 24-hours from 14 September 15:00 to 15 September 14:00.
  • Trading volume peaked at 101.32 million during the 08:00 hour, nearly triple the 24-hour average of 24.47 million.
  • Strong resistance established around $0.395 level during morning selloff.
  • Key support emerged near $0.375 where buying interest materialized.
  • Price range of $0.019 representing 5% volatility between peak and trough.
  • Recovery attempts reached $0.383 by 13:00 before encountering selling pressure.
  • Consolidation pattern formed around $0.380-$0.381 zone suggesting new support level.

Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk’s full AI Policy.

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HBAR Tumbles 5% as Institutional Investors Trigger Mass Selloff

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Hedera Hashgraph’s HBAR token endured steep losses over a volatile 24-hour window between September 14 and 15, falling 5% from $0.24 to $0.23. The token’s trading range expanded by $0.01 — a move often linked to outsized institutional activity — as heavy corporate selling overwhelmed support levels. The sharpest move came between 07:00 and 08:00 UTC on September 15, when concentrated liquidation drove prices lower after days of resistance around $0.24.

Institutional trading volumes surged during the session, with more than 126 million tokens changing hands on the morning of September 15 — nearly three times the norm for corporate flows. Market participants attributed the spike to portfolio rebalancing by large stakeholders, with enterprise adoption jitters and mounting regulatory scrutiny providing the backdrop for the selloff.

Recovery efforts briefly emerged during the final hour of trading, when corporate buyers tested the $0.24 level before retreating. Between 13:32 and 13:35 UTC, one accumulation push saw 2.47 million tokens deployed in an effort to establish a price floor. Still, buying momentum ultimately faltered, with HBAR settling back into support at $0.23.

The turbulence underscores the token’s vulnerability to institutional distribution events. Analysts point to the failed breakout above $0.24 as confirmation of fresh resistance, with $0.23 now serving as the critical support zone. The surge in volume suggests major corporate participants are repositioning ahead of regulatory shifts, leaving HBAR’s near-term outlook dependent on whether enterprise buyers can mount sustained defenses above key support.

HBAR/USD (TradingView)

Technical Indicators Summary
  • Corporate resistance levels crystallized at $0.24 where institutional selling pressure consistently overwhelmed enterprise buying interest across multiple trading sessions.
  • Institutional support structures emerged around $0.23 levels where corporate buying programs have systematically absorbed selling pressure from retail and smaller institutional participants.
  • The unprecedented trading volume surge to 126.38 million tokens during the 08:00 morning session reflects enterprise-scale distribution strategies that overwhelmed corporate demand across major trading platforms.
  • Subsequent institutional momentum proved unsustainable as systematic selling pressure resumed between 13:37-13:44, driving corporate participants back toward $0.23 support zones with sustained volumes exceeding 1 million tokens, indicating ongoing institutional distribution.
  • Final trading periods exhibited diminishing corporate activity with zero recorded volume between 13:13-14:14, suggesting institutional participants adopted defensive positioning strategies as HBAR consolidated at $0.23 amid enterprise uncertainty.

Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk’s full AI Policy.

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Dogecoin Inches Closer to Wall Street With First Meme Coin ETF

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The first exchange-traded fund (ETF) built around a meme coin could hit the market this week, after multiple delays and much speculation.

The DOGE ETF — formally called the Rex Shares-Osprey Dogecoin ETF (DOJE) — was originally slated to debut last week, alongside a handful of politically themed and crypto-related ETFs. Those included funds tied to Bonk (BONK), XRP, Bitcoin (BTC) and even a Trump-themed fund. But DOJE’s debut never materialized.

Now, Bloomberg ETF analysts Eric Balchunas and James Seyffart believe Wednesday is the most likely launch date, though they caution nothing is certain.

“It’s more likely than not,” Seyffart said. “That seems like the base case.”

Ahead of the introduction of the ETF, DOGE has been among the top performers over the past month, ahead 15% even including a decline of 3.5% over the past 24 horus.

If launched, DOJE would mark a milestone as the first U.S. ETF to focus on a meme coin — cryptocurrencies that generally lack utility or a clear economic purpose. These include tokens like Dogecoin, Shiba Inu (SHIB) and Bonk, which often surge in popularity thanks to internet culture, celebrity endorsements and speculative trading.

Balchunas described DOJE’s significance in a post on X: “First-ever US ETF to hold something that has no utility on purpose.”

DOJE is not a spot ETF. That means it won’t hold DOGE directly. Instead, the fund will use a Cayman Islands-based subsidiary to gain exposure through futures and other derivatives. This approach sidesteps the need for physical custody of the coin while still offering traders a way to bet on its performance within a traditional brokerage account.

The ETF was approved earlier this month under the Investment Company Act of 1940, which is typically used for mutual funds and diversified ETFs. That sets it apart from the wave of bitcoin ETFs that received green lights under the Securities Act of 1933, a framework used for commodity-based and asset-backed products. In short, DOJE is structured more like a mutual fund than a commodity trust.

More direct exposure may be coming soon. Several firms have filed applications to launch spot DOGE ETFs, which would hold the meme coin itself rather than derivatives. These applications are still under review by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which has grown more comfortable with crypto ETFs since approving a slate of bitcoin products in early 2024.

The broader crypto market has shown that investor demand can outweigh fundamental critiques. Meme coins have long drawn skepticism for having no underlying value or use case, but that hasn’t kept them from drawing billions in speculative capital.

Seyffart said the ETF market is likely to follow the same path. “There’s going to be a bunch of products like this, whether you love it or need it, they’re going to be coming to market,” he said.

He added that many existing financial products serve no deeper purpose than providing a vehicle for short-term bets. “There’s plenty of products out there that are just being used as gambling or short-term trading,” he said. “So if there’s an audience for this in the crypto world, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if this finds an audience in the ETF and TradFi world.”

Whether the DOJE ETF opens the door to more meme coin funds — or just proves the concept is viable — may depend on how the market responds this week. Either way, it signals a new phase in the merging of internet culture and traditional finance.

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