Crypto Currents: Miners surge after Aligned Data Centers megadeal

Wall Street’s cryptocurrency infrastructure continues to mature as major payment firms build for an AI-driven future and institutional products expand. Bitcoin miners IREN and TeraWulf are flying after announcing billion-dollar debt deals to power their expansion into the high-performance computing market. Meanwhile, a massive $1.3B bitcoin transfer follows a Department of Justice announcement of a record-breaking $15B crypto seizure. 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.

IREN, TERAWULF DEBT OFFERINGS: Shares of cryptocurrency miners are rallying on news of large debt issuances to finance expansion into AI and high-performance computing. after closing an oversubscribed $1B private offering of convertible senior notes. The company plans to use the net proceeds of approximately $979M for general corporate purposes. Similarly, TeraWulf (WULF) announced plans for its subsidiary to issue $3.2B in senior secured notes to finance the expansion of its Lake Mariner data center. TeraWulf shares were up 3% in pre-market trading following the news.

Additionally, Roth Capital notes BlackRock (BLK) and MGX, via the $100B AI Infrastructure Partnership, are acquiring Aligned Data Centers from Macquarie at an enterprise value of $40B in what will be the largest data center deal ever. The firm believes the entire sector stands to benefit, but those with larger power portfolios and existing colocation agreements and data centers — such as Applied Digital (APLD), TeraWulf, Core Scientific (CORZ), Cipher Mining (CIFR), and Galaxy Digital (GLXY) — likely stand to benefit most, while also proving those still seeking deals but with large baskets of power should receive continued re-ratings as well, including Bitdeer (BTDR), Iren, Riot Platforms (RIOT), Hut 8 (HUT), Hive Digital (HIVE) and WhiteFiber (WYFI).

CLOUDFARE, VISA, MASTERCARD, AMEX PARTNER ON AI PAYMENTS: According to a press release, Cloudflare (NET) has teamed up with Visa (V), Mastercard (MA), and American Express (AXP) to develop authentication standards for “agentic commerce,” where AI agents transact on behalf of humans. The move follows Cloudflare’s recent announcements of its NET Dollar stablecoin and its partnership with Coinbase to create the x402 Foundation for standardizing agent payment protocols.

The broader vision for an on-chain financial future was echoed by BlackRock (BLK) CEO Larry Fink. In an interview with CNBC, Fink stated that “we’re just at the beginning of the tokenization of all assets” and confirmed that BlackRock is building the technology to bring tokenized products directly to digital wallets. His vision involves a financial landscape where real-world assets, including mutual funds and money markets, are represented as digital tokens, enabling near-instantaneous settlement and integrated regulatory compliance.

DOJ SEIZURE PRECEDES $1.3B BITCOIN TRANSFER: A wallet linked to the Chinese bitcoin mining operation LuBian transferred nearly $1.3B worth of bitcoin (BTC-USD) after being dormant for three years, according to on-chain data analysis provided by Arkham Intel. The massive transfer occurred just one day after the U.S. Department of Justice unsealed an indictment involving a Cambodia-based company, Prince Holding Group, and moved to seize roughly $15B in bitcoin allegedly tied to a large-scale cryptocurrency fraud scheme. Prosecutors allege the illicit proceeds were laundered through crypto mining operations, including LuBian.

CME LAUNCHES SOLANA, XRP OPTIONS; COINBASE INVESTS IN COINDCX: The suite of cryptocurrency-focused products available to institutional investors continues to grow. (CME) has launched options on futures for both solana (SOL-USD) and XRP (XRP-USD), with initial block trades executed by major market participants including Galaxy Digital (GLXY), Cumberland DRW, and Wintermute. “Institutional participants are clearly seeking greater choice and depth in crypto markets,” said Roman Makarov, Head of Cumberland Options Trading at DRW.

OTHER CRYPTO NEWS:

• In venture activity, Cointelegraph reports that Coinbase (COIN) has made a strategic investment in Indian cryptocurrency exchange CoinDCX at a post-money valuation of $2.45B. The move signals Coinbase’s focus on India and the Middle East as key growth markets.
• China Merchants Bank (CIHKY) has tokenized its $3.8B money market fund on the BNB Chain, according to an announcement from BNB Chain. The fund primarily invests in U.S. dollar-denominated deposits and government-backed money market instruments.
• Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest has filed for several new bitcoin ETFs, including funds designed to offer yield and downside protection.
• Obook Holdings (OWLS), the operator of Taiwanese stablecoin firm OwlTing, is set for a direct listing on the Nasdaq, expected to commence trading on October 16.

PRICE ACTION: As of time of writing, bitcoin was trading at $110,995.66, while ether was trading at $4,003.85, according to price data from CoinDesk.