FTX’s former Bitcoin mining bet gets new life as parent raises €800 million for AI

SWI Group has raised €800 million to broaden AI infrastructure, advancing its plan to repurpose FTX-backed Bitcoin miner Genesis Digital Assets.

On Oct. 12, the Amsterdam-listed firm announced a capital enhance backed by institutional buyers, valuing the group at €6.1 billion and bringing whole fairness raised since March above €1 billion.

The financing will assist data-center growth, energy infrastructure and computing deployments throughout Europe and the United States, the place SWI is changing its digital infrastructure portfolio towards synthetic intelligence and high-performance computing.

The enlargement contains Genesis Digital Assets (GDA), a former main funding of bankrupt crypto change FTX’s buying and selling affiliate, Alameda Research, which SWI acquired management of earlier this 12 months.

The fundraising comes as Bitcoin miners more and more redirect capital towards AI infrastructure, attracted by stronger projected profitability and rising valuations for firms with entry to electrical energy and data-center capability.

Former FTX funding turns into basis for AI enlargement

Genesis was amongst Alameda Research’s largest enterprise investments earlier than FTX collapsed in November 2022.

The buying and selling agency invested roughly $1.15 billion in Genesis between 2021 and 2022, when the miner was valued at about $5.5 billion.

The funding later turned the topic of chapter litigation, with FTX’s recovery trust seeking to reclaim funds it alleged Alameda improperly transferred. The belief dismissed the lawsuit in June 2026.

SWI has since consolidated management of Genesis, finishing the acquisition of a stake exceeding 70% in August via share purchases and restructuring.

The firm plans to rename the miner SWI Digital and use its US mining infrastructure as a basis for high-performance computing and AI providers.

Genesis’s present power-connected websites are central to that technique, giving SWI entry to infrastructure it may redevelop for extra demanding computing workloads.

SWI beforehand disclosed that its mixed European and American digital infrastructure portfolio exceeded 4 gigawatts of energy capability, with greater than 80% of its capital allotted to the sector.

The group additionally plans to develop its personal AI cloud platform, extending its enterprise past data-center possession into computing providers for enterprises and builders.

SWI Chief Executive Max-Hervé George mentioned the most recent fundraising would assist the corporate broaden alongside rising demand for computing capability.

The new shares will probably be issued in a number of collection, though SWI didn’t establish the collaborating buyers or disclose how a lot of the proceeds can be allotted particularly to Genesis.

Bitcoin miners’ AI pivot delivers stronger returns

SWI’s enlargement follows a pointy divergence within the monetary outlook for Bitcoin mining and AI infrastructure.

According to CoinShares’ second-quarter mining report, AI computing infrastructure might generate roughly $1.5 million in annualized revenue per megawatt, in contrast with an estimated $500,000 from Bitcoin mining.

That threefold distinction has helped drive a considerable revaluation of former mining firms pursuing AI alternatives.

CoinShares discovered that 10 of the 12 publicly traded mining firms it tracked gained between 70% and 195% in the course of the second quarter.

Companies centered on AI infrastructure, together with Hut 8, Cipher Mining, TeraWulf and Core Scientific, traded at a median of 19.4 instances ahead gross sales, in contrast with 6.6 instances for a bunch of extra mining-focused rivals.

The shift displays rising investor demand for firms with present electrical energy connections and infrastructure able to supporting AI workloads.

However, changing these belongings stays capital-intensive.

CoinShares estimates that creating AI-grade services from mining infrastructure can price $8 million to $15 million per megawatt, in contrast with roughly $700,000 to $1 million for mining infrastructure.

The report additionally discovered that more than $100 billion in disclosed AI computing contracts throughout the lined firms supported solely about $1.1 billion in annualized income, with roughly 550 megawatts producing billings towards greater than 4 gigawatts of contracted capability.

That hole has made challenge execution more and more essential as buyers assign greater valuations to firms transitioning away from Bitcoin mining.

SWI’s €800 million capital enhance supplies extra financing for its enlargement, however the firm has not disclosed which Genesis services will probably be transformed first, their growth prices or when they’ll start producing AI computing income.

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