According to DCD, former cryptomining operations are cashing in massive hyperscaler deals as the AI boom creates unprecedented demand for data center capacity. Microsoft signed a $9.7 billion, five-year deal with Iren for access to Nvidia GB300s at a 750MW Texas campus, while also leasing from Nscale at Ionic Digital’s 234MW Texas site in a $2 billion, 10-year agreement. Google is acting as guarantor for Fluidstack’s multiple deals securing over 360MW from TeraWulf in New York and 244MW from Cipher Mining in Texas, while also taking direct stakes in both crypto firms. Amazon just locked in a 15-year, $5.5 billion deal with Cipher Mining for 300MW of capacity, completing the trifecta of hyperscalers turning to former Bitcoin miners for immediate AI infrastructure.
Desperate times, desperate measures
Here’s the thing – the hyperscalers are basically out of options. Microsoft has openly admitted it can’t deploy all the GPUs it’s bought because there’s no space or power available. Google says AI demand is “outstripping supply.” So when you’ve got billions in hardware sitting around and customers screaming for AI capacity, you start making deals you never would have considered a few years ago.
Remember when crypto mining was the data center industry’s embarrassing cousin? Now Google is taking equity stakes in these companies. That’s like your straight-laced corporate uncle suddenly investing in your friend’s questionable startup. The dynamics have completely flipped.
The perfect crypto exit strategy
For the crypto firms, this is basically winning the lottery. They spent years securing massive land tracts and power contracts, often in remote locations where electricity was cheap. Bitcoin mining was profitable, but it’s volatile as hell and increasingly difficult as mining complexity rises.
Now they’ve got hyperscalers offering 10-15 year contracts worth billions. That’s stable, predictable revenue that makes investors much happier than the rollercoaster of crypto markets. And let’s be real – many of these companies claiming they “always planned” for AI are rewriting history. They needed an exit, and the hyperscalers showed up at the perfect moment.
The infrastructure shift is real
We’re seeing entire mining operations being relocated or shut down to make room for GPUs. Most Bitcoin mining sites don’t meet hyperscaler uptime requirements, so there’s massive retrofitting happening. Some companies are completely abandoning crypto to become pure-play AI hosts.
The irony is thick here. All that energy that was going toward solving cryptographic puzzles for Bitcoin is now training AI models. Whether that’s actually more useful is debatable – have you seen some AI-generated content lately? But from an infrastructure perspective, it’s a fundamental shift in how we think about compute resources.
This is the new normal
These deals are happening weekly now. What was unthinkable two years ago – investment-grade companies doing business with fringe crypto operators – is becoming standard practice. The lines between crypto infrastructure, traditional data centers, and AI clouds have completely blurred.
And honestly, this might just be the beginning. As energy prices continue to climb and AI demand shows no signs of slowing, these former crypto sites with their massive power allocations are looking like gold mines. The companies that secured industrial-scale power capacity early are positioned to become critical infrastructure players in the AI era. It’s a reminder that in technology, sometimes the most valuable asset isn’t the latest chip – it’s the electricity to run it.
