CleanSpark plans $1.15B raise to expand Bitcoin mining, AI infrastructure

Nasdaq-listed Bitcoin mining company CleanSpark is raising capital to expand its mining and data center operations, as major miners pivot toward artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure.

CleanSpark announced a $1.15 billion senior convertible note offering on Tuesday, aiming to raise more capital to expand its Bitcoin (BTC) mining operations.

The miner estimates it will raise about $1.13 billion in net proceeds, or $1.28 billion if the initial purchasers exercise their full options to purchase additional convertible notes. The offering is expected to close on Nov. 13, subject to satisfactory closing conditions.

Cleanspark said it will use $460 million of the proceeds to repurchase common stock from investors, while the remaining proceeds will be used to expand the company’s power and land portfolio, develop data center infrastructure, repay its outstanding Bitcoin-backed credit balances, and cover general corporate expenses.

Related: Elon Musk touts Bitcoin as energy-based and inflation-proof, unlike ‘fake fiat’

CleanSpark said it will repurchase its common stock from convertible notes investors in “privately negotiated transactions” at a share price of $15.03, or the Nasdaq closing price on Monday.

The common stock offering comes nearly a year after CleanSpark raised $550 million in a similar private convertible note offering, which closed on Dec. 17, 2024, Cointelegraph reported at the time.

CleanSpark is the world’s second-largest Bitcoin mining firm after Marathon Holdings, with an operating hashrate of 46.60 exahashes per second (EH/s), according to data from Bitcoinminingstock.io.

Related: 61% of institutions plan to boost crypto exposure despite October crash: Sygnum

Bitcoin mining firms are expanding into AI data center infrastructure to diversify revenue sources

Some of the largest  Bitcoin mining companies have been expanding into AI data infrastructure to diversify their revenue streams, partly driven by post-Bitcoin-halving pressure.

CleanSpark’s shares soared 13% within a day when the Bitcoin miner first announced its AI expansion on Oct. 20, Cointelegraph reported.

“We have been reviewing the entire portfolio from first principles to evaluate AI suitability and have identified Georgia as a strategic region for both potential conversion as well as expansion,” said Scott Garrison, chief development officer and executive vice president at ClearSpark.

At the beginning of November, Bitcoin mining company IREN signed a five-year agreement valued at $9.7 billion to provide Microsoft with access to Nvidia GPUs hosted within IREN’s data centers, further highlighting the industry’s growing synergy with AI.

Earlier in June, Core Scientific announced a $3.5 billion deal with AI cloud provider CoreWeave to provide an additional 200 megawatts of infrastructure to host CoreWeave’s high-performance computing (HPC) operations. The deal is expected to generate over $3.5 billion in the 12-year contract period for the Bitcoin miner.

The AI expansion may have saved Core Scientific’s business, as the company initially filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2022, two years before getting relisted on the Nasdaq ahead of its AI pivot.

Magazine: Bitcoin mining industry ‘going to be dead in 2 years’ — Bit Digital CEO