Cryptocurrency stocks rise as funds rotate away from AI infrastructure, Bitcoin miners lag
Cryptocurrency stocks were among the top gainers on Monday amid outflows from chip and AI infrastructure stocks. Ethereum accumulator Bitmine Immersion surged 11%, Bitcoin treasury pioneer Strategy jumped 7%, and Coinbase gained 4.5%. Meanwhile, shares of Bitcoin miners involved in the AI business fell amid pressure on chip and AI infrastructure stocks, worries about circular financing issues and growing competition from Chinese semiconductor companies. Cipher Mining led the sector lower, down 8%. Hut 8 and Terawulf fell 6% and 4% respectively. This weakness extends even to pure-play Bitcoin miners. Riot Platforms fell 5%, Mara Holdings fell 3% and CleanSpark fell 4%. Core Scientific, which has largely transitioned away from Bitcoin mining, fell 9%. "Today's weakness partly reflects concerns about capital spending requirements and whether companies from miners to AI may need to raise incremental capital at a higher cost to fund their development plans," said Michael Donovan, senior research analyst at Compass Point. "Some investors are questioning whether the demand for credit for these projects is approaching its limits and which developers will be able to fund their development plans without massive dilution, taking on costly debt or lacking additional support from customers and strategic partners."