Bitcoin Miners and AI: The Infrastructure Play Wall Street Is Starting to Notice

TLDR

• VanEck’s Matthew Sigel says Bitcoin miners own power infrastructure that AI data centers are spending years trying to build
• Miners trade at a big discount to data center peers on a market-cap-per-megawatt basis
• MARA is converting mining sites into hyperscale data center campuses; Core Scientific secured up to $1 billion from Morgan Stanley for its AI pivot
• Global miner hash rate dropped 6% from its November 2025 peak, partly due to rigs being moved to AI workloads
• CleanSpark said Bitcoin mining investments don’t make sense at current hash prices compared to AI returns

Bitcoin miners have spent years building power infrastructure that AI companies now desperately need. VanEck’s head of digital asset research, Matthew Sigel, says the market hasn’t priced that in yet.

Sigel made the comments on CNBC’s Squawk Box, saying miners are “sitting on a gold mine” because they already own the land, power contracts, cooling systems, and grid relationships that a new data center would take years to secure.

Getting a new data center connected to the grid can mean waiting in interconnection queues that stretch to 2028 and beyond. Miners already skipped that line.

Despite that edge, Sigel pointed out that mining companies still trade at a large discount to traditional data center peers when measured by market cap per megawatt. The market either isn’t paying attention to the AI angle or doesn’t believe miners can execute the shift.

The numbers suggest execution is already happening. Public miners are targeting a jump from 7 gigawatts of capacity today to 20 gigawatts by 2027.

The Deals Are Already Being Done

The pivot isn’t just talk. MARA struck a deal in February to convert its mining sites into hyperscale data center campuses. Core Scientific secured up to $1 billion in financing from Morgan Stanley last week to fund its move toward AI infrastructure.

CleanSpark was more direct. The company said in Q1 2026 that Bitcoin mining investments don’t make sense at current hash prices when compared to AI returns.

That shift is showing up in the hash rate data. Global miner hash rate dropped 6% from its November 2025 peak. Part of that drop comes from rigs being moved to AI workloads rather than Bitcoin mining.

It hasn’t threatened network security yet, but it’s worth monitoring.

On the other end, Bitdeer is still expanding its mining operation. The company is deploying 50,000 proprietary ASICs across 413 megawatts, which could add 33 exahashes per second to the network and $335 million in additional Bitcoin revenue at current prices.

Grid Balancing Is Now a Sellable Service

There’s another angle beyond AI hosting. Miners can cut their power usage on demand. As AI clusters and industrial reshoring put more pressure on domestic grids, that flexibility has real value.

Sigel described it as a useful load balancing tool. When the grid needs electricity, miners can switch off. Nobody loses power. Miners lose a little revenue, but that flexibility can now be sold as a service.

AI data center demand is growing at 24% annually through 2030, according to industry figures.

Q1 2026 earnings reports will be the first real test of how far the AI pivot has gone. Analysts will be watching power capacity numbers, AI contract announcements, and curtailment revenue closely.

Core Scientific’s $1 billion financing from Morgan Stanley was secured last week.

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