Bitcoin
Bitcoin (BTC) Mining Stocks Like Core Scientific and TeraWulf (WULF) Soar Amid M&A Frenzy
Bitcoin mining stocks outperformed other cryptocurrency-linked stocks on Thursday after several industry takeover bids drew market attention to the question of who could be the next target.
Shares of miners such as Stronghold (SDIG), Core Scientific and TeraWulf (WULF) rose more than 15%. Gains in Iris Energy (IREN), Mawson (MIGI), Cathedra (CBIT) and Argo Blockchain exceeded 10%.
More recently, one of the largest mining companies, Riot Platforms (RIOT), began a hostile takeover attempt to peer Bitfarms (BITF), while artificial intelligence firm CoreWeave purchase proposal another mega-cap mining company, CoreScientific (CORZ).
Although Bitfarms and CoreScientific rejected the offers, the takeover attempts reminded investors that the industry may be ripe for mergers.
B. Riley analyst Lucas Pipes said energy contracts and lower valuations could be the catalyst that kickstarts the consolidation phase for miners.
“We believe the optimistic outlook in the energy market could catalyze increased M&A activity this year, especially as large valuation discrepancies remain,” he wrote in a report.
JPMorgan analysts echoed Pipes’ sentiment, watching that AI and cloud computing companies looking to diversify their energy sources could come after bitcoin miners. The bank also said that as some mining companies intend to exit this market after the Bitcoin halved – an event that reduced mining rewards, putting pressure on weaker companies – M&A activity is expected to accelerate.
Both Wall Street firms said larger miners such as Riot and Marathon Digital (MARA) are likely in the best position to lead this wave of consolidation.