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

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.
Uncategorized
Stablecoin Giant Circle Is Launching a New Payments and Remittance Network

Circle, the firm behind the $60 billion USDC stablecoin, is launching a new payments and cross border remittance network on Tuesday — the company’s “next product move” — from its plush New York City headquarters, high on the 87th Floor of One World Trade Center.
The launch event is aimed at banks, fintechs, payment service providers, remittance providers and USDC strategic partners. It will feature Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire sharing his vision for the stablecoin giant’s next move within the payments space, according to an invite seen by CoinDesk.
New and incipient regulations around the globe are opening up the stablecoin space, where Circle has shared the limelight with larger rival Tether. It makes sense then that Circle — a firm that has successfully pivoted during its years in the crypto space — should look to consolidate its position and return to its roots as a payments company.
“Circle is launching a payments network that is initially targeting remittances but is ultimately aiming to rival Mastercard and Visa,» said a person familiar with the plans.
Stablecoins have reached an adoption level where the technology could disrupt global money transfers in a way similar to WhatsApp and international calls, VC firm Andreessen Horowitz said in recent report.
In a recent interview, crypto custody tech specialists Fireblocks pointed to billions being moved around by payments services providers doing things like cross border payments using stablecoins like USDC and USDT.
Circle was in the news most recently, after the firm announced plans to go public in the U.S., only to postpone the date of its IPO thanks to choppy and uncertain market conditions.
Circle did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Uncategorized
BNB, SOL, XRP Spike Higher as Bitcoin ‘Digital Gold’ Narrative Makes a Comeback

Surging gold prices and bitcoin’s (BTC) relatively strong price action amid a global market sell-off have some traders revisiting the latter’s role as “digital gold” — a big narrative in bitcoin’s early years but one that has lost steam in recent times.
BTC zoomed above $87,000 in Asian morning hours, with Cardano’s ADA, BNB Chain’s BNB, XRP and ether (ETH) adding as much as 1.5%. The spike reversed all declines since Thursday, with tokens such as Solana’s SOL up 5.2% in the past week.
The tariff-driven trade wars have sparked fears of inflation and currency devaluation, prompting comparisons of the asset to gold’s historical role as a hedge.
“Although bitcoin has had a close correlation with U.S. equities, it seems to be changing with a stronger tie to the rise of the price of gold, which has been a safe haven while equities have plummeted,” Nick Ruck, director at LVRG Research, told CoinDesk in a Telegram message on Monday.
“Bitcoin crossed $87,000 as a sign of renewed investor confidence as the market continues to stabilize after panicking over tariffs. It’s also worth noting that Bitcoin’s digital gold narrative is taking off as both assets have grown in tandem,” Ruck said.
Gold set fresh highs Monday with a push above $3,380 per ounce, bringing year-to-date gains to 25%. Bitcoin has dropped more than 20% from a January peak of $108,000, though Monday’s push over $87,000 sent the asset to its highest level since Donald Trump’s “liberation day” in early April.
Pressure on the greenback has continued to grow as the dollar index (DXY) crashed to a three-year low, with some pointing out that most bad news has been “priced in” and that bitcoin could see upside in the coming days.
“Trump’s inclination to remove Jerome Powell as Fed Chair and force interest rate cuts is causing people to sell the U.S. dollar and U.S. government debt, moving to other safe haven assets such as gold, European bonds, and now, Bitcoin,” Jeff Mei, COO at BTSE, told CoinDesk in a Telegram message Monday.
“After all, when rates are cut, more money flows into the money supply, devaluing the U.S. dollar. In general, downward pressure on the US dollar is growing and this could be a driving catalyst for Bitcoin to become a safe haven asset,” Mei added.
Meanwhile, here’s a machine’s view of the markets today, powered by the CoinDesk Markets AI bot.
ADA Price Analysis
- Cardano’s ADA is above 63 cents with strong technical indicators pointing to continued upward momentum despite macroeconomic headwinds.
- Price action formed a clear ascending channel with strong support at $0.612, which successfully held during multiple retests.
- Notable volume spike occurred on 2025-04-21 00:00 when volume reached 68M (3x average), propelling price through key resistance at $0.630.
- Fibonacci extension levels suggest 64 cents as the next target, with an overall range of 0.031 (5.1%), indicating substantial volatility.
- RSI remains below overbought territory despite the rally, suggesting potential for continued upward momentum.
- Consolidation near previous resistance suggests accumulation rather than distribution.
XRP Price Analysis
- XRP’s decisive breakout signals a potential end to months-long sideways trading, with technical indicators pointing to further gains ahead.
- Fibonacci retracement levels suggest potential continuation toward $2.15, with the 61.8% extension pointing to $2.18 as the next target if bullish momentum persists.
SOL Price Analysis
- SOL breaks decisively above $135 resistance, surging 10.2% to establish new support levels with strong volume confirmation
- Key technical battle emerges between $129 support and $144 resistance zones, with on-chain data showing 5.75% of realized volume concentrated at these critical levels
- Price action formed a clear ascending channel with higher lows and higher highs, particularly evident in the April 19-21 rally.
- Volume significantly increased during upward movements, confirming the strength of the bullish trend.
- The 48-hour momentum indicators show bullish divergence with price maintaining strength above the 20-hour moving average.
BNB Price Action
- BNB breaks $600 barrier with 3.2% surge as large holders accumulate during market volatility.
- Recent quarterly token burn removed 1.57 million BNB worth over $1 billion, supporting price momentum.
- Open interest in BNB rose 3.3% to $760 million despite negative funding rates, with 68% of traders betting on continued price increases.
- BNB broke out of its consolidation range with a 3.2% surge from $592.63 to $601.74.
- Price action shows clear bullish momentum with increasing volume, particularly during the breakout candle where volume spiked to 55,661 units.
- Fibonacci extension targets suggest potential continuation toward the $605-610 zone if current momentum persists.
Uncategorized
Metaplanet Buys Another 330 BTC as BTC Moves Above $87K

Publicly-listed Metaplanet announced fresh bitcoin (BTC) purchases on Monday as BTC went above $87,300, reversing last week’s loses.
Metaplanet picked up 330 BTC bring its overall holdings to 4,855 BTC, worth over $420 million, based on current prices.
This is the Japanese firm’s third bitcoin purchase this month, even as broader markets reel from tariff concerns amid a general lack of optimism. Earlier this month, Metaplanet became the tenth-largest public holder of BTC.
However, Metaplanet is not the only Japanese firm raking up bitcoin.Fashion brand ANAP Holdings purchase approximately 16.6591 BTC, valued at around 200 million yen (approximately $1.4 million), last week.
The holdings will be overseen by its subsidiary, ANAP Lightning Capital. The company plans to conduct quarterly market value assessments of its BTC holdings, with any gains or losses reflected in its profit and loss statements.
Its BTC yield from quarter-to-date is at 12.1% so far, with the previous quarter’s yield at 95%. BTC Yield is a custom metric used by the firm to assess the performance of its strategy. This measures the growth of bitcoin per fully diluted share.
Bitcoin has fared relatively better than U.S. equities in such a time of financial instability. U.S. equities lost $5.4 trillion in value in two days after President Trump unveiled his reciprocal tariffs earlier in April, which sent the Nasdaq tumbling down 11% at the time. BTC fell a relatively smaller 6%, in comparison.
Metaplanet’s stock on the Tokyo Stock Exchange is up nearly 0.9% since open.
-
Fashion6 месяцев ago
These \’90s fashion trends are making a comeback in 2017
-
Entertainment6 месяцев ago
The final 6 \’Game of Thrones\’ episodes might feel like a full season
-
Fashion6 месяцев ago
According to Dior Couture, this taboo fashion accessory is back
-
Entertainment6 месяцев ago
The old and New Edition cast comes together to perform
-
Sports6 месяцев ago
Phillies\’ Aaron Altherr makes mind-boggling barehanded play
-
Business6 месяцев ago
Uber and Lyft are finally available in all of New York State
-
Entertainment6 месяцев ago
Disney\’s live-action Aladdin finally finds its stars
-
Sports6 месяцев ago
Steph Curry finally got the contract he deserves from the Warriors