Bitcoin miners Riot Platforms and CleanSpark are shifting their business models from cryptocurrency mining to leasing power and data center capacity to AI companies.
Riot signed a landmark $9.1 billion, 20-year computing deal with Anthropic, covering 191 megawatts of power at its Rockdale, Texas campus, while CleanSpark secured a $6.6 billion 20-year lease at its Sandersville site.
The pivot reflects weak bitcoin mining economics, but both miners now bet on durable, long-term revenue streams from AI tenants rather than volatile cryptocurrency prices.
What happened
Riot Platforms signed a $9.1 billion, 20-year computing lease with Anthropic, providing 191 megawatts of power at its Rockdale, Texas campus. The deal could grow to $16.1 billion if extended twice by five years each. CleanSpark signed its own 20-year, $6.6 billion lease at its Sandersville site with a high investment-grade tenant. Riot's shares initially jumped more than 20% before giving back most of the gain.
Why it matters
Bitcoin miners Riot and CleanSpark are shifting from mining cryptocurrency to renting power and data center space to AI companies, a pivot driven by weak bitcoin mining economics—falling prices, rising competition, and shrinking mining rewards. Riot's Rockdale site now carries $9.8 billion in contracted data center revenue including the earlier AMD deal, and the company beat second-quarter revenue expectations at $174.2 million versus $154.3 million modeled. However, CleanSpark's fiscal third-quarter results show the strain: revenue fell 30.5% year over year to $138.0 million, and the company swung to a $239.8 million net loss from $257.4 million in net income a year earlier.
What to watch
Whether these long-term AI tenant contracts prove durable over two decades. Riot's bet depends on customers like Anthropic remaining committed to these specific sites, while CleanSpark's Sandersville lease revenue has not yet started flowing. Analyst Michael Donovan reiterated a buy rating and $29 price target on Riot, arguing that tighter scrutiny of new power projects by Texas grid operator ERCOT could raise the value of power capacity Riot has already secured.
Ask the AI about this article →
The shift by Riot and CleanSpark from bitcoin mining to data center leasing reflects a fundamental stress in cryptocurrency mining economics. Falling bitcoin prices, rising competition, and shrinking mining rewards have squeezed traditional miners to the point where some operate at a loss, forcing a strategic reorientation. Riot's earlier deal with AMD, combined with the new Anthropic agreement, positions the Rockdale campus as a multi-tenant facility with $9.8 billion in contracted data center revenue, a more stable foundation than relying on volatile bitcoin price appreciation.
CleanSpark's recent financial results underscore the urgency of this transition. The company's third-quarter adjusted EBITDA fell to negative $113.0 million from a positive $377.7 million a year earlier, demonstrating how sharply mining margins have compressed. Management's claim that the firm has "materially de-risked execution" on the Sandersville lease while "preserving balance sheet flexibility" is noteworthy given the scale of the loss. However, the company has not yet begun collecting lease revenue from Sandersville, so the promised conversion into "durable cash flows" remains unproven.
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