Bloomberg reports that NYDIG, a leading Bitcoin mining and digital asset infrastructure firm, is in advanced negotiations to acquire Alcoa Corp.'s idled Massena East aluminum smelter in northern New York. The transaction would give NYDIG full ownership of the 435-megawatt hydropower-fed Bitcoin mining campus. Alcoa CEO Bill Oplinger confirmed the advanced talks on April 17, 2026, expecting the deal to close around mid-2026.
From Smelter to Bitcoin Mine: Massena East's Transformation
Massena East has operated as a Bitcoin mining campus since 2018, when Alcoa signed a 10-year lease with Coinmint, which later rebranded its local operations as North Country Colocation Services. NYDIG invested in Coinmint in October 2024, gaining the ability to deploy its mining rigs at the site. Currently, the campus consumes about 166 MW of its approved capacity and hosts approximately 54,000 Bitcoin mining units across six former aluminum potlines. Third-party clients including Cleanspark, Gryphon, and Bit Digital have since left the site.
Hydropower Advantage and ESG Appeal
The campus receives power from the New York Power Authority via the Moses-Saunders hydropower dam on the St. Lawrence River. Bitcoin miners and data center operators target former smelters because these facilities were built for continuous high-voltage industrial loads, leaving behind dedicated substations and transmission lines that bypass years-long grid connection queues. Alcoa originally idled Massena East in 2014 due to high energy costs and global competition. The property spans about 1,300 acres with all the electrical infrastructure built for industrial-scale aluminum production. This feature attracts ESG-focused operators seeking carbon-free power for digital infrastructure.
NYDIG's Growth and Broader Industry Trend
The acquisition is part of NYDIG's aggressive expansion. In March 2025, NYDIG struck a deal to buy Crusoe Energy's Bitcoin mining operations, adding over 270 MW of capacity. Combined with other North American mining assets acquired in 2024, the Massena East purchase would give NYDIG direct ownership of a site it has already operated for over a year. Alcoa is pursuing a wider plan to monetize about 10 dormant U.S. smelters, targeting data center developers and crypto miners. A parallel transaction saw Century Aluminum sell its Hawesville, Kentucky smelter to Terawulf for roughly $200 million in cash and equity for digital infrastructure use. The conversion of Massena East avoids building new power plants by routing existing hydropower—a detail that has garnered interest among ESG-focused operators seeking carbon-neutral digital infrastructure.
Current mining operations at Massena employ about 85 full-time workers across Massena and Plattsburgh. Expansion under NYDIG ownership is expected to increase this workforce. The City of Massena has already updated local regulations to accommodate cryptocurrency mining and data center operations. Alcoa reported strong first-quarter 2026 results alongside the deal news, with net income of $425 million and adjusted EBITDA of $595 million, driven by aluminum prices.