As fears mount that the substitute intelligence (AI) bubble has popped, Wall Avenue dealmaking is being saved alive by a elementary drawback: bitcoin miners and information middle builders nonetheless require critical quantities of energy.
“M&A piece remains to be ongoing as folks nonetheless want energy,” stated Joe Nardini, head of funding banking at B. Riley Securities, in an interview with CoinDesk.
Nardini stated demand for energy from bitcoin miners stays “big,” however added that the pull from AI and high-performance computing (HPC) is “even greater,” with information middle and mining purchasers reporting sustained demand for GPU-ready amenities.
After the bitcoin halving lower rewards in half, miners confronted a extreme margin squeeze even with costs close to or above $100,000 and more and more pivoted to internet hosting AI and high-performance computing (HPC) {hardware} of their current information facilities. This helped drive sharp positive factors in some BTC mining shares this 12 months as AI hype swept by means of the market.
Learn extra: GPU Gold Rush: Why Bitcoin Miners Are Powering AI’s Enlargement
Earlier in 2025, rising considerations about synthetic intelligence and lofty valuations erased vital market worth from main tech names, together with Nvidia (NVDA) and different AI beneficiaries, as buyers took income and reassessed whether or not costs had outpaced fundamentals.
AI infrastructure specialist CoreWeave’s (CRWV) inventory additionally retreated and is now greater than 50% under its June peak.
Does this imply the AI development is over? Nardini would not assume so, and he has some easy logic behind this that he asks executives: Do purchasers have demand for the information middle capability they’ve constructed? “Sure.” Have they got tenants? “Sure.” Are they good tenants? “Sure.” Are they getting good charges? “Sure.” Throughout a number of conversations, he stated the message has been constant: “So the demand remains to be there.”
The truth is, Hut 8 shares rallied as a lot as 20% final week after signing a 15-year, $7 billion lease with Fluidstack for 245 megawatts of IT capability at its River Bend campus.
“Regardless of the latest selloff, these corporations have been effectively rewarded with larger valuation multiples and the flexibility to boost capital at engaging valuations and phrases,” he stated.
Contained in the dealmaking
This demand remains to be underpinning valuations and, more and more, M&A negotiations, based on Nardini.
In aggressive conditions with high-quality energy and viable places, he stated, {dollars} per megawatt (a monetary metric for worth for every megawatt of electrical energy) can look “very engaging.” He acknowledged that one course of concerned a valuation of over $400,000 per megawatt, with the potential to succeed in $450,000 per megawatt, relying on the end result of negotiations. The truth is, he has seen prior offers priced as excessive as $500,000 to $550,000 per megawatt.
Nevertheless, demand for distressed or much less fascinating places hasn’t gone away and nonetheless attracts “lowball” bids, generally $100,000–$250,000 per megawatt, from consumers who like the ability however low cost the market or web site high quality.
So who’re these consumers and sellers?
In keeping with Nardini, consumers embrace hyperscalers (giant tech corporations that present cloud computing infrastructures), AI corporations, and bitcoin miners, whereas the vendor universe is increasing past crypto-native gamers.
He has seen dealmaking processes involving outdated industrial amenities, equivalent to a 160-year-old facility, the place the first attraction is energy, even when the market isn’t nice. In one other case, he stated a personal vendor of an identical sort asset drew curiosity from roughly 25 potential consumers searching for NDAs, together with bitcoin miners, hyperscalers and AI corporations.
That dynamic is creating an uncommon strategic fork for asset house owners. Promote to a hyperscaler or developer, or attempt to turn out to be a developer themselves.
Nardini stated he’s seeing industrial corporations with older, idle, or near-idle amenities which have energy think about promoting into the AI/HPC and Bitcoin ecosystem.
He cited one other instance involving a personal shopper repurposing older workplace blocks into modular energy capability, “constructing 30 megawatt models at a clip,” and now searching for extra funding to broaden.
In a minimum of one negotiation, he stated, a tenant was even ready to prepay lease earlier than completion, an illustration, in his view, of how scarce fascinating capability stays.
No want to fret, but
Wanting into 2026, Nardini stated the setup nonetheless favors threat property if charges fall, calling it a doubtlessly “risk-on setting,” which will likely be constructive for dealmaking in his trade.
He acknowledged he could also be “speaking his ebook a bit,” however stated the working actuality he’s listening to from executives retains him constructive: the tenants are there, pricing stays sturdy, and if one buyer doesn’t take a web site, “another person will.”
His caveat to the constructive sentiment is straightforward: if builders can’t lease what they construct, or can’t get the value they want, that might be the second to fret. For now, he says he isn’t listening to that. “The bones of the enterprise stay intact,” he stated.
He concluded with a blunt evaluation of the sentiment.
“The demand for energy and AI HPC information middle capability continues unabated. Builders with information middle capability have demand from a number of creditworthy tenants at good charges, so the core economics of enterprise stay intact.”
Nardini stated consumers are nonetheless hungry for vitality, and sellers are seeing good valuations for his or her property. This solidifies his conviction additional.
“The AI commerce remains to be alive as of Dec. 17, 2025,” he stated.
Learn extra: Amazon Enters AI Arms Race as Crypto and Threat Asset Fears Mount