Hut 8 signed a 15-year, $9.8B AI data center lease for its Texas facility, driving shares up 33% to a record $109.88. Originally slated for Bitcoin mining, the 352 MW site pivoted to AI computing, with total contracted AI capacity reaching 597 MW and potential value up to $25.1B.
Bitcoin surged above $72,000 for the first time in nearly a month, lifting Coinbase +12%, Strategy +9%, and mining stocks. Wintermute trader warns the divergence may not last.
Alphabet said demand for AI compute is still rising faster than it can build internal infrastructure, prompting the company to increase its use of third-party computing capacity starting in the third quarter. Chief Financial Officer Anat Ashkenazi made the comments during the company’s latest earnings call, where Alphabet also raised its 2026 capital expenditure forecast to $195 billion-$205 billion from a prior $180 billion-$190 billion range and said 2027 spending would rise sharply as well. The company described third-party capacity as a temporary substitute while internal buildouts continue, though management said the move would pressure margins in the near term. The comments lifted a group of emerging cloud and AI infrastructure names in after-hours trading on July 22, including Nebius, CoreWeave, IREN, Hut 8 and TeraWulf. The report also highlighted recent developments across the sector: IREN signed multiyear cloud contracts worth up to $2.8 billion, Hut 8 disclosed a 15-year lease valued at $9.8 billion for its Texas data center campus, and Nvidia disclosed a 9.3% stake in Nebius, totaling 22.26 million shares.
Bitcoin plunged below $63,000 on Thursday, down over 10% in 24 hours, its steepest one-day drawdown since the FTX meltdown in November 2022. Liquidity drought and correlated selloffs in precious metals and equities amplified the rout.
Bitcoin dropped 6% below $84,000, leading a broad selloff in crypto stocks. Spot exchange volume in January shrank to $90 billion. Miners pivoting to AI bucked the trend with year-to-date gains.
VanEck says bitcoin miners moving into AI infrastructure now face scrutiny over execution, not contract headlines. The firm estimates a near-term funding gap of about $50 billion and long-term capital needs of $221 billion.
U.S. equities ended the session in positive territory, with the Nasdaq posting the strongest daily gain among the three major indexes. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.29%, bringing its July gain to 0.68%. The S&P 500 added 0.38% and is now up 1.19% for the month, while the Nasdaq climbed 0.62% and has gained 0.88% in July. In the silver segment, the iShares Silver Trust ETF (SLV) fell more than 1.80%. Crypto-related stocks showed mixed performance. BTBT (Bit Brother) dropped more than 4%, and BMNR (Bitmine) fell more than 3%. RIOT (Riot Platforms) slipped 0.45%, while MSTR (Strategy) edged down 0.11%. CIFR (Cipher Mining) finished flat. On the upside, MARA (MARA Holdings) rose more than 1%, COIN (Coinbase) and CRCL (Circle) both gained more than 3%, HUT (Hut 8) advanced more than 4%, and CLSK (CleanSpark) climbed more than 5%, making it one of the stronger movers in the group.
Crypto-related equities opened higher in U.S. trading, according to Techub News. CleanSpark led the early gains, rising more than 8%, while Circle advanced more than 3%. Bitmine and Hut 8 were both up close to 3%, and Coinbase gained more than 2%. Other names in the sector also moved higher. Bit Brother rose more than 1%, MARA Holdings added 0.90%, Cipher Mining gained 0.78%, and Riot Platforms climbed 0.40%. Market data for the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500, and the Nasdaq was not available at the time of the update. Strategy data was also unavailable.
