Crypto Currents: Bitcoin miners soar on Microsoft and Amazon AI deals

The pivot from bitcoin mining to artificial intelligence infrastructure is accelerating, as tech giants like Microsoft and Amazon sign multi-billion dollar deals with miners for AI cloud capacity. This validation sent miner stocks soaring, while Wall Street giants from JPMorgan to Standard Chartered deepen their own crypto integration. Stay up on the crypto news that matters with “Crypto Currents,” daily from The Fly. Join us at 2 PM ET for your essential briefing on the fast-moving world of cryptocurrency on FlyCast radio. Also, subscribe to our YouTube channel for the Crypto Fly By weekly recap.

MINERS SURGE ON MICROSOFT AND AMAZON AI DEALS: Bitcoin miner IREN (IREN) saw its shares soar more than 30% after announcing a $9.7B agreement to provide AI cloud capacity to Microsoft (MSFT). The five-year contract will see IREN purchase $5.8B in GPUs from Dell Technologies (DELL) to supply the needed capacity. The validation continued as Cipher Mining (CIFR) shares jumped 19% after signing a $5.5B, 15-year lease agreement with Amazon (AMZN) Web Services, Cipher, which also counts Google (GOOGL) as a partner, announced a new joint venture to build a 1 gigawatt site in West Texas near an American Electric Power (AEP) substation.

WALL STREET HIKES TARGETS AS DIMON REVERSES: The AI pivot is causing analysts to re-rate the sector. Bernstein hiked price targets for miners, including Core Scientific (CORZ), Riot Platforms (RIOT), and CleanSpark (CLSK). In a separate but significant shift, JPMorgan Chase (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon, a long-time crypto opponent, stated “Crypto is real” at a recent summit, Live Bitcoin News reports. The bank is preparing to let institutional clients use bitcoin (BTC-USD) and ether (ETH-USD) as collateral for loans and is already using Coinbase’s (COIN) Base network for its proprietary Deposit Token.

TREASURIES GROW AS INSTITUTIONS BUY IN: Corporate accumulation continues, with Strategy (MSTR) adding 397 bitcoin for $45.6M, CoinDesk reports. BitMine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) also acquired $300M in ether, bringing its total holdings to $13.7B, including a $62M position in Eightco Holdings (ORBS). Cointelegraph reports that Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest purchased another $5M in shares of crypto exchange Bullish (BLSH) as it celebrates its U.S. launch.

TRADFI AND PAYMENTS GIANTS DEEPEN INTEGRATION: Mastercard (MA) is reportedly in advanced talks to acquire stablecoin infrastructure firm Zerohash for up to $2B, according to Cointelegraph. Zerohash clients include Morgan Stanley (MS) and Franklin Templeton (BEN). The push for tokenization continues, with Cointelegraph noting the market has crossed $8.6B, led by offerings from BlackRock (BLK). Banks like Citigroup (C) and UBS (UBS) are also involved in pilots. Finally, executives at Standard Chartered (SCBFF) and HSBC (HSBC) expressed strong confidence in a digital-first financial future at Hong Kong FinTech Week, Cointelegraph reports.

OTHER NEWS AND EARNINGS: Nasdaq reprimanded treasury company TON Strategy (TONX) over rule violations. HIVE Digital Technologies (HIVE) reported its mining capacity hit 23 EH/s. Blockchain firm Animoca Brands announced plans for a Nasdaq listing via a reverse merger, with SoftBank (SFTBY) as a shareholder. Investors are also watching for earnings this week from Robinhood (HOOD), Hut 8 (HUT), Mara Holdings (MARA), and Block (XYZ).

PRICE ACTION: As of time of writing, bitcoin was trading at $106,463.32, while ether was trading at $3,623.95, according to price data from CoinDesk.