Crypto ETFs in Focus as Bitcoin Mining Boosts AI Infrastructure

As artificial intelligence (AI) reshapes the digital economy, high-performance computing (HPC) is proving essential to meeting the surging demand for computational power. Bitfarms, a Bitcoin mining company, is positioning itself at the intersection of AI and energy infrastructure.

In a recent interview, Ben Gagnon, CEO of Bitfarms, shared insights on how the company is expanding its capabilities beyond crypto mining to support AI workloads, particularly amid growing energy demands.

From Crypto to Compute: Shift in Infrastructure Strategy

Historically, Bitfarms focused on building data centers tailored for Bitcoin mining. However, as Gagnon noted, the economics of the data center business — particularly in the AI space — are significantly more attractive.

"Most Bitcoin mining companies trade at a three to five times multiple," he explained, "whereas data center companies can trade at 20 to 30 times due to their contracted, long-term revenue certainty," as quoted on Yahoo Finance.

This difference in valuation is driving companies like Bitfarms to evolve, capitalizing on their existing infrastructure and expertise to enter the rapidly growing HPC and AI markets.

Gagnon emphasized that as NVIDIA continues to expand GPU sales, the need for infrastructure — the power and space to support those chips — will rise remarkably.

Bitcoin Miners Bring Scale and Speed to AI Infrastructure

While traditional data center firms have built large portfolios of small sites, Bitcoin miners have done the opposite: small portfolios of massive, power-dense facilities. That scale, Gagnon argued, is exactly what’s needed for tomorrow’s AI demands.

Following NVIDIA’s Lead

Gagnon drew parallels between NVIDIA's technological leadership and the broader industry’s growth trajectory. He noted that NVIDIA was a critical player during the early days of crypto, and that the broader industry followed its lead with a lag.

He pointed to the launch of ChatGPT as a turning point in public understanding and adoption of AI. Before then, HPC and AI felt abstract to most. The launch of ChatGPT is almost like a gold rush in AI innovations.

Outlook: AI and Energy Demand Converge

As AI continues its relentless expansion, companies like Bitfarms are uniquely positioned to meet the demand, not just with physical infrastructure, but with an understanding of energy-intensive computing.

ETFs in Focus

iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF IBIT, Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund FBTC and First Trust SkyBridge Crypto Ind and Digi Econ ETF CRPT are some of the ETFs that come under the spotlight against the above developments.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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