Cryptocurrency mining stocks tied to the red-hot artificial intelligence (AI) data center trade were the fastest horses Monday to recover from Friday’s market rout.
Bitfarms (BITF) and Cipher Mining (CIFR) jumped 26% and 20%, respectively, on Monday, while Bitdeer (BTDR), IREN (IREN) and MARA Holdings (MARA) rose about 10%. The rally reflects optimism that growing demand for AI computing will help miners.
ChatGPT creator OpenAI may have bolstered sentiment by striking a deal with chipmaker Broadcom (AVGO) to create custom chips for AI and machine learning. Also Monday, Bloom Energy (BE) announced a $5 billion deal with Brookfield Asset Management to deploy fuel cells in data centers to meet AI’s voracious energy demand.
The gains came after Friday’s sharp slowdown, as trade tensions between the United States and China escalated, with Trump imposing a 100% increase in tariffs on Chinese goods in retaliation for tightened export controls on rare earth metals. Investor concerns eased somewhat over the weekend, and the Nasdaq and S&P 500 indexes rose 2.1% and 1.4% on Monday.
Other crypto-related names saw modest gains. Strategy (MSTR), the world’s largest Bitcoin cash company, climbed 2.8%, while crypto exchange Coinbase remained roughly flat. Digital brokerage Robinhood, which makes much of its revenue from crypto trading, rose 1%.
Ethereum Treasury firm BitMine (BMNR), meanwhile, rallied nearly 7%, as the company said it was capitalizing on crypto’s plunge in recent days, purchasing more than 200,000 tokens worth more than $840 million at current prices.
Read more: Tom Lee’s BitMine bought back the dip, adding over 200,000 ETH to Ethereum’s treasury
