Here are the winners and losers (so far) in bitcoin mining from Nvidia's $2 billion CoreWeave investment
Yahoo Finance·2026-01-26 16:06

Core Insights - The investment by Nvidia in CoreWeave highlights the increasing demand for high-performance computing in AI applications, while also presenting challenges for independent bitcoin miners transitioning to AI infrastructure [1][3] - Shares of bitcoin miners like Cipher Mining, CleanSpark, IREN, and TeraWulf fell between 5% and 9% due to concerns that CoreWeave's dominance in the AI infrastructure market could limit growth opportunities for other miners [2] - CoreWeave's market capitalization of $53 billion is already half of the peak valuation of the entire bitcoin-AI mining sector, indicating significant competitive pressure on smaller players [3] Market Reactions - The decline in shares of bitcoin miners signals a commitment between Nvidia and CoreWeave, with GPU resources increasingly allocated to this partnership, potentially reducing funding opportunities for independent miners [3] - CleanSpark's shares dropped about 9% due to perceived outage risks related to its Tennessee operations and governance concerns stemming from a substantial CEO pay package [5] - Core Scientific and Hut 8 are exceptions, with Core Scientific's shares rising nearly 2% and Hut 8's shares increasing by 0.2%, as both companies have diversified into AI hosting and high-performance computing [6][7] Industry Trends - The shift towards AI by bitcoin miners is not new, as they have been repurposing their data centers for more profitable workloads amid shrinking mining rewards and rising power costs [8] - Nvidia's recent actions suggest that resources may increasingly be directed towards larger, more integrated players like CoreWeave, compelling smaller firms to adapt or consolidate [8] - The industry is showing signs of inevitable consolidation as it matures, indicating a potential shift in competitive dynamics [4]