“Nvidia’s deepened partnership with CoreWeave raises pressure on bitcoin miners pivoting to AI infrastructure.”, — write: www.coindesk.com
While the investment underscores growing demand for high-performance computing as AI applications expand, it also highlights the challenges for independent miners trying to reposition themselves as infrastructure providers in the space.
Cipher Mining (CIFR), CleanSpark (CLSK), IREN (IREN), and TeraWulf (WULF) were among names 5%-9% lower following the news.
The drop reflects investor concern that CoreWeave’s growing lead in the AI infrastructure market could limit the upside for other players.
“The declines across the AI and HPC segment tied to bitcoin miners today signal a commitment between NVIDIA and CoreWeave, with GPU allocation increasingly prioritized toward that partnership,” said James Van Straten, senior bitcoin analyst at CoinDesk. “This could potentially diminish funding prospects for independent miners seeking to pivot into AI infrastructure. The $2 billion capital injection is set to materially expand AI compute capacity for CoreWeave, which would intensify competition and squeeze both margins and market share for smaller players.”
Van Straten also noted that CoreWeave’s $53 billion market cap is already half the peak valuation of the entire bitcoin-AI mining sector in October.
In addition, Matthew Sigel, head of digital assets at VanEck says CLSK fell about 9% as markets priced in perceived outage risk tied to its Tennessee exposure after state level power headlines, despite its sites being in grid green zones. The drop was compounded by a proxy filing that quantified a roughly $45 million CEO pay package for 2025, raising governance concerns as the firm pivots toward AI, according to Sigel.
The only name showing a sizable gain on Monday is Core Scientific (CORZ). Although CoreWeave tried and failed to acquire CORZ in 2025, the two still continue to have a multi-year data center deal. Shares are higher by just shy of 2% in late-morning trade.
Also outperforming is Hut 8 (HUT), another miner that has diversified into AI hosting and high-performance computing. Along with Core Scientific, HUT also offers infrastructure tailored to large-scale AI applications, giving it a competitive edge in demand for compute surges. HUT shares are higher by 0.2%.
The shift toward AI isn’t new. Bitcoin miners, once singularly focused on validating blockchain transactions, have been repurposing their data centers for more profitable workloads, particularly as mining rewards shrink and power costs rise.
Nvidia’s latest move, however, suggests those resources may increasingly flow to larger, more tightly integrated players like CoreWeave, forcing smaller firms to adapt or consolidate.
KuCoin captured a record share of centralized exchange volume in 2025, with more than $1.25tn traded as its volumes grew faster than the broader crypto market.
- KuCoin recorded over $1.25 trillion in total trading volume in 2025equivalent to an average of roughly $114 billion per monthmarking its strongest year on record.
- This performance translated into an all-time high share of centralized exchange volumeas KuCoin’s activity expanded faster than aggregate CEX volumeswhich slowed during periods of lower market volatility.
- Spot and derivatives volumes were evenly spliteach exceeding $500 billion for the year, signaling broad-based usage rather than reliance on a single product line.
- Altcoins accounted for the majority of trading activityreinforcing KuCoin’s role as a primary liquidity venue beyond BTC and ETH at a time when majors saw more muted turnover.
- Even as overall crypto volumes softened mid-year, KuCoin maintained elevated baseline activityindicating structurally higher user engagement rather than short-lived volume spikes.
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The ETF would actively manage a covered call bitcoin exposure through BlackRock’s existing iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), to generate income for investors.
- BlackRock has filed to launch the iShares Bitcoin Premium Income ETF, aiming to generate income through a covered call strategy on bitcoin exposure.
- The ETF would actively manage a covered call bitcoin exposure through BlackRock’s existing iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), to generate income for investors.
- This approach follows similar existing crypto income funds, but leverages BlackRock’s significant market presence, with IBIT already being the dominant bitcoin ETF holding over $69.7 billion in assets.
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