Riot’s Anthropic Deal Lifts Bitcoin Miner Stocks, But It’s Bad News For BTC

Riot Platforms’ $9.1 billion Anthropic lease sent RIOT and rival miner stocks sharply higher this week. But the rally points to a shift that could hurt Bitcoin (BTC) itself. Miners are increasingly funding AI buildouts by selling down the coin they mine.

The lease covers 191 megawatts at Riot’s Rockdale, Texas campus over 20 years, worth up to $16.1 billion with extensions. Rival miners TeraWulf, Cipher Mining, and Hut 8 rallied in sympathy the same day.

Miner Stocks Are Rallying On Power Contracts, Not Bitcoin Riot closed Monday up 4.33%. Cipher Mining gained 5.39%, TeraWulf rose 3.40%, and Hut 8 added 3.39%. Bitcoin slipped 0.49% over the same stretch and has struggles to move beyond the $62,000 – $65,000 range.

It is quite clear that the boost the these Bitcoin mining stocks has very little to do with BTC and thus is not helping the price of the underlying asset. Riot, along with other traditional BTC miners have been on the rise recently.