Morgan Stanley Initiates Coverage on Bitcoin Miners: Overweight on Cipher and TeraWulf, Underweight on Marathon
Morgan Stanley initiated coverage of three publicly traded bitcoin miners on Monday, assigning Overweight ratings to Cipher Mining (CIFR) and TeraWulf (WULF) while giving Marathon Digital (MARA) an Underweight rating. Analyst Stephen Byrd set price targets of $38 for Cipher and $37 for TeraWulf. The thesis focuses on transforming mining sites into data center assets that can generate stable, long-term cash flows like REITs, de-emphasizing pure bitcoin exposure. Cipher and TeraWulf are favored for their data center capabilities and management experience, while Marathon is faulted for its hybrid model, limited hosting history, and heavy reliance on bitcoin prices. The coverage reflects a broader trend of bitcoin miners pivoting from proof-of-work mining to AI and high-performance computing data centers.

