Invest ideasNews
30 Jan 2026, 13:00
Bitcoin Everlight Transforms Solo Mining: Next Crypto to Explode for Investors Asking ‘Should I Buy Bitcoin Now?’
The question “Should I buy Bitcoin now?” usually surfaces during periods of uncertainty. After Bitcoin’s rise from negligible prices to six-figure levels, entry timing has become more consequential, especially during volatile market conditions. For some investors, that uncertainty has led to a wider review of how participation in the Bitcoin ecosystem works beyond buying or selling BTC. Bitcoin Everlight has started to appear in that context. Entry Timing Uncertainty Is Pushing Broader Evaluation Bitcoin’s market size and liquidity mean price moves are often driven by macro factors, institutional flows, and leverage. That makes short-term decisions harder to assess, particularly for participants who are not trading actively. In these conditions, some investors look at surrounding infrastructure to understand what opportunities exist independent of immediate price direction. This does not replace Bitcoin ownership. It reflects a parallel review of systems that operate around Bitcoin and remain relevant across different market phases. Bitcoin Everlight Sits Alongside Bitcoin, Not in Place of It Bitcoin Everlight operates as a transaction layer built to function alongside Bitcoin. It does not change Bitcoin’s protocol, consensus rules, or monetary structure. Bitcoin remains the settlement layer and the source of final transaction finality. Everlight focuses on transaction routing and coordination through a separate node network. Transactions are confirmed through quorum-based agreement among participating nodes, typically within seconds. Transaction batches can be anchored back to the Bitcoin blockchain, creating a reference point for settlement without relying on Bitcoin’s base layer for every interaction. Presale Access Shapes How the Project Is Evaluated Everlight’s token, BTCL, is still distributed through a public presale. That distribution stage places infrastructure access earlier than price discovery on secondary markets. BTCL has a fixed total supply of 21,000,000,000 tokens. Forty-five percent of the supply is allocated to the presale, which is divided into 20 stages. Pricing begins at $0.0008 and increases incrementally to $0.0110 in the final stage. Presale allocations unlock with 20% available at the token generation event, followed by linear vesting over a six-to-nine-month period. For investors weighing ecosystem exposure during periods of Bitcoin price uncertainty, the presale structure is often assessed on access terms and mechanics instead of short-term market sentiment. Node Participation Offers an Operational Role The Everlight network is operated by node participants. These nodes do not mine Bitcoin, produce blocks, or contribute hash power. Their role is limited to routing transactions, maintaining availability, and participating in quorum confirmation within the Everlight layer. To operate a node, participants stake BTCL. Node performance is tracked using uptime, routing volume, and responsiveness metrics. Participation tiers — Light, Core, and Prime — define routing priority and operational scope. Network rules include a defined commitment period to support stability. This structure appeals to participants interested in operational involvement without the hardware, energy, or capital requirements associated with mining. Disclosure and External Review Infrastructure projects tend to receive closer scrutiny when investors hesitate. Everlight has published third-party security and identity verification materials. Smart contract reviews are available through the SpyWolf Audit and the SolidProof Audit . Team identity verification is available through the SpyWolf KYC Verification and the Vital Block KYC Validation . Independent commentary has also reviewed the project, including a Crypto Tech Gaming review examining its infrastructure model. The Roadmap Lays Out How the Network Expands Bitcoin Everlight follows a phased development roadmap. Early phases focus on protocol finalization, node architecture testing, and economic calibration. Public testnet stages introduce broader node participation and quorum confirmation testing, alongside settlement anchoring simulations. Later phases include mainnet activation, formal node registry onboarding, and integration with wallets and payment tools. Ongoing development centers on routing efficiency, anchoring refinement, and periodic security review. Acquire BTCL in the presale to engage with Bitcoin Everlight’s node and transaction routing system. Website: https://bitcoineverlight.com/ Security: https://bitcoineverlight.com/security How to Buy: https://bitcoineverlight.com/articles/how-to-buy-bitcoin-everlight-btcl
30 Jan 2026, 12:04
Canadian Hacker Steals $65M, Disappears From Custody — What Happened?
A 22-year-old Canadian crypto hacker who allegedly defrauded two DeFi protocols of $65 million has vanished from custody after being arrested in Serbia. Andean Medjedovic, a Hamilton native with a master’s degree in pure mathematics earned at age 18, now faces charges in multiple jurisdictions, with his whereabouts remaining unknown. This week, a criminal indictment was unsealed against Andean Medjedovic, a Canadian national who allegedly manipulated two decentralized finance protocols to obtain about $65 million in illicit funds from the protocols’ investors. https://t.co/peirBeNDJ3 pic.twitter.com/YHkoGmq9vk — FBI (@FBI) February 5, 2025 Medjedovic’s four-year evasion ended with his August 2024 arrest in Belgrade, only for him to slip away again from authorities pursuing extradition. Math Genius Turned Criminal: The $65M Double Heist Medjedovic’s alleged crimes began in October 2021 when he manipulated Indexed Finance’s index pools using borrowed cryptocurrencies, draining over $16.5 million from investors. The following year, he conspired with an unnamed accomplice to launder the stolen funds through fraudulent exchange accounts and crypto mixers. His most brazen heist occurred in November 2023, when he allegedly exploited KyberSwap’s code to artificially manipulate prices in the protocol’s liquidity pools. “Medjedovic then calculated precise combinations of trades that would cause the KyberSwap AMM to ‘glitch,’ in his words, allowing him to steal tens of millions of dollars in cryptocurrency from the liquidity pools,” the United States Attorney’s Office states. Medjedovic withdrew funds from KyberSwap. | Source: TRM Labs . The Vietnam-based platform lost $48.8 million in the attack. Shortly after the heist, the attacker sent a public message : “Negotiations will start in a few hours when I am fully rested. Thank you.” KyberSwap offered a standard 10 percent bug bounty, but Medjedovic rejected it outright. Instead, he demanded complete control of the Kyber platform and offered to return just 50 percent to investors. The KyberSwap team has been in contact with the owners of the frontrun bots that extracted about $5.7M* worth of funds from KyberSwap pools on Polygon and Avalanche during the exploit. We have negotiated with the owners of the frontrun bots to return 90% of the users’ funds taken… — Kyber Network (@KyberNetwork) November 26, 2023 According to CBC reports , Dutch authorities traced the hack to a hotel in The Hague, where Medjedovic allegedly checked in using a fake Slovak passport. Two weeks after his flight departed Amsterdam for Kuwait via Istanbul in late November 2023, Dutch authorities issued a European arrest warrant, followed by an Interpol Red Notice. Court documents reveal Medjedovic spent those intervening years traveling extensively. He visited Brazil, Dubai, Spain, Bosnia, and Serbia while attempting to maintain his lavish lifestyle on stolen crypto. Arrested in Belgrade, Then Vanished — Where Is He Now? Medjedovic’s run ended on August 9, 2024, when he arrived in Belgrade using the alias “Lorenzo” to book an apartment. Interpol Belgrade immediately contacted Dutch authorities upon his arrest. During extradition proceedings at the Belgrade Higher Court, Medjedovic denied all accusations. “I do not wish to go to the Netherlands,” he stated, adding that “I would like to have children in Serbia and to achieve some more things here.” He claimed he had been in Dubai for 4 months and had visited the Netherlands for 3 months “ on a tourist trip. ” Despite being Canadian, Medjedovic told the court he holds only a Bosnian passport. Fake Passport. | Source: Balkan Insight The U.S. indictment revealed Medjedovic maintained detailed files documenting his schemes, including one titled “ moneyMovementSystem ” with step-by-step instructions for laundering cryptocurrency through mixers. He allegedly wrote notes to “ make a new bank account under a fake ID ” and “ order documents online (Russian + Brazilian + American citizen) .” His Next Move: Return the Funds or Rot in Prison As of publication, Medjedovic has disappeared from Serbian custody, and the stolen $65 million remains dormant in crypto wallets. “He needs to be perfect from here until eternity in obfuscating the proceeds of this exploit, which are being tracked,” said Kyle Armstrong, a former FBI agent at blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs. Ari Redbord, TRM’s global head of policy, noted that modern digital tracking makes prolonged evasion increasingly difficult. “Everything is tracking to the overall growth of the crypto ecosystem,” says Ari Redbord ( @ARedbord ) of @trmlabs , telling @RemyBlaireNews as he discusses rising illicit crypto volumes and why they remain a small share of total activity. pic.twitter.com/09Z0UcRElK — FINTECH.TV (@FintechTvGlobal) January 16, 2026 “The reality is that at some point you come in and you fall on your sword and potentially do everything you can to ultimately help the government,” he said. If Medjedovic refuses to cooperate by returning funds and taking responsibility, he could face more than 10 years in prison . The post Canadian Hacker Steals $65M, Disappears From Custody — What Happened? appeared first on Cryptonews .
30 Jan 2026, 11:55
Bitcoin Price Faces Critical Test as Accelerating Miner Exodus Threatens $60K Support
BitcoinWorld Bitcoin Price Faces Critical Test as Accelerating Miner Exodus Threatens $60K Support Global cryptocurrency markets face renewed pressure as a significant exodus of Bitcoin miners threatens to push the pioneer digital asset below the crucial $60,000 support level, according to a detailed technical analysis from Capriole Investments reported by Cointelegraph. This potential shift, emerging in early 2025, underscores the fragile equilibrium between network security, miner economics, and asset valuation. Bitcoin Price Confronts Mounting Miner Pressure Recent data reveals an accelerating departure of miners from the Bitcoin network. Consequently, this trend creates substantial selling pressure on the market. Miners typically sell their block rewards to cover operational expenses. Therefore, a concentrated exodus can flood the market with BTC. Analysis from Capriole Investments indicates this dynamic is intensifying. Specifically, the firm’s report highlights increasing short-term downward pressure based on current mining costs and hashrate indicators. The Bitcoin network’s health fundamentally relies on miner participation. As a result, significant shifts in miner behavior often precede major price movements. Historically, periods of miner distress correlate with market bottoms. For instance, the 2018 bear market saw a similar miner capitulation phase. Ultimately, that period established a long-term price floor. The current situation presents parallel characteristics. However, the scale of the modern mining industry introduces new complexities. Today’s mining operations involve sophisticated hardware and global energy arbitrage. This evolution makes cost structures more varied but also more transparent. Decoding the Mining Cost Price Floor The analysis provides precise figures for mining economics. As of January 2025, the average electricity cost to mine a single Bitcoin stands at approximately $59,450. Furthermore, the total all-inclusive mining cost, accounting for hardware depreciation and overhead, reaches around $74,300. With Bitcoin trading near $82,000 at the time of the report, a buffer exists before miners operate at a loss. This buffer, however, is narrowing. The concept of a mining cost price floor is central to this analysis. Essentially, when Bitcoin’s market price falls below the cost of production, inefficient miners shut down. This reduction in network hashrate subsequently decreases the mining difficulty during the next adjustment. Eventually, the network finds a new equilibrium where remaining miners can operate profitably at a lower price. Capriole’s report notes that historically, Bitcoin’s price tends to revert to a level reflecting mining electricity costs following prolonged downturns. Bitcoin Mining Cost Analysis (January 2025) Cost Component Estimated Value Description Average Electricity Cost $59,450 Power cost to mine 1 BTC Total All-In Cost $74,300 Full operational cost including hardware Current Market Price ~$82,000 Trading price at report time Potential Support Zone $59K – $74K Historical cost-based bottom range If this historical pattern repeats, the analysis suggests a potential price bottom could form between $59,000 and $74,000. This range represents the spectrum from pure electricity cost to full operational breakeven. Market observers closely monitor these levels. Significantly, a breach below the higher band would indicate severe miner stress. Conversely, holding above the lower band suggests underlying strength. The Hashrate Indicator and Market Sentiment Beyond direct costs, the Bitcoin network’s hashrate serves as a vital health metric. A declining hashrate often signals miner capitulation. Currently, indicators point to acceleration in this trend. This development matters for several key reasons: Network Security: A lower hashrate temporarily reduces the computational power securing the blockchain. Difficulty Adjustments: The protocol automatically lowers mining difficulty after sustained hashrate drops, aiding remaining miners. Market Supply: Exiting miners typically convert held BTC to fiat, increasing sell-side pressure. Sentiment Gauge: Professional investors view miner activity as a fundamental on-chain signal. The current cycle differs from previous ones due to the rise of large, publicly-traded mining corporations. These entities have different financial pressures and hedging strategies compared to individual miners. They may continue operating at a temporary loss to maintain market share or due to long-term power contracts. This factor could potentially extend or alter the typical miner capitulation timeline. Broader Market Context and Historical Precedents Understanding the potential Bitcoin price movement requires examining broader conditions. The global macroeconomic landscape in 2025 continues to influence risk assets. Additionally, regulatory developments across major economies impact institutional adoption flows. The Bitcoin market now interacts with traditional finance through ETFs and futures products. These instruments can amplify or dampen volatility stemming from miner activity. Historical analysis shows distinct phases in miner-led market cycles. First, a bull market encourages massive investment in mining infrastructure. Next, rising difficulty and potential bear markets squeeze margins. Then, inefficient miners capitulate and sell reserves. Finally, the network resets at a lower difficulty, allowing efficient miners to prosper at a lower price floor. The market appears to be in the transition between the third and fourth phases. Previous instances, like the late 2022 cycle, saw Bitcoin price find a bottom near key mining cost estimates. That period validated the analytical framework. The current data suggests the market may be testing this model again. However, each cycle possesses unique attributes. The increased institutional custody of Bitcoin means less circulating supply is readily available for miners to sell. This structural shift could provide a counterbalancing support mechanism. Conclusion The accelerating exodus of Bitcoin miners presents a critical test for the Bitcoin price in the medium term. Analysis indicates a potential retreat toward the $59,000 to $74,000 range, a zone defined by fundamental mining economics. While short-term downward pressure is increasing, this process represents a natural market mechanism. It ultimately purges inefficiency and strengthens the network’s foundation for the next growth phase. Market participants should monitor on-chain metrics like hashrate and miner outflow alongside price action. These indicators will provide confirmation if the historical relationship between mining costs and price support holds true in the evolving 2025 cryptocurrency landscape. FAQs Q1: What is causing the current Bitcoin miner exodus? The primary driver is compressed profit margins. As the Bitcoin price approaches or falls below the total cost of production for many miners, particularly those with high electricity rates or older hardware, their operations become unprofitable, forcing them to shut down and sell assets. Q2: Why is the $59,450 electricity cost per Bitcoin significant? This figure represents a key psychological and economic threshold. Historically, Bitcoin’s price has often found a bottom near the average global cost of electricity required to mine it, as it represents the bare minimum expense for network participants. Q3: How does a miner exodus actually affect the Bitcoin price? Exiting miners convert their mined Bitcoin into cash to cover costs or exit the business, creating direct selling pressure on exchanges. Additionally, the anticipation of this selling and the negative sentiment around network security can lead to broader market selling. Q4: Could the price fall below the $59,000 electricity cost estimate? Yes, in a severe capitulation phase, the price can temporarily undershoot fundamental cost models due to panic selling and liquidity crises. However, such levels are typically unsustainable long-term as mining would cease entirely, forcing a network reset. Q5: What happens after the miner exodus phase concludes? The network’s mining difficulty adjusts downward, reducing the cost for remaining, more efficient miners. This creates a healthier, leaner mining ecosystem. The reduced selling pressure from defunct miners often allows the price to stabilize and begin a new accumulation phase, setting the stage for the next cycle. This post Bitcoin Price Faces Critical Test as Accelerating Miner Exodus Threatens $60K Support first appeared on BitcoinWorld .
30 Jan 2026, 11:02
Tier-1 Outlets Capture 95% of US Crypto Media Traffic; CryptoDaily Ranks Among Top — Outset PR
The US crypto media market has become consolidated. According to a new Q4 2025 Outset Data Pulse report , more than 95% of all US crypto media traffic is captured by Tier-1 outlets, leaving the remaining ecosystem to compete for marginal attention. At the same time, CryptoDaily emerged as the second-fastest growing US crypto publisher, driven by deep engagement and early alignment with AI-driven discovery. The findings highlight a market where scale, growth, and influence have split into separate dimensions—with direct consequences for publishers, founders, and PR teams. Traffic fell sharply, but loyalty proved resilient Total traffic across US crypto-native media declined 33.5% quarter-over-quarter, mirroring the broader market cooldown as Bitcoin peaked in October and sentiment deteriorated into year-end. Source: Outset PR Blog Yet this contraction was not evenly distributed. Outlets with strong direct traffic—which accounted for 44% of all visits—retained a stable core audience even as speculative interest faded. Publishers dependent on social amplification or search volatility experienced rapid traffic evaporation once price momentum disappeared. Audience loyalty determined resilience. Tier-1 media now functions as an oligopoly Outset PR categorized 82 US crypto-native outlets by traffic volume. Tier-1 outlets with over 400 thousand amassed roughly 95% of total traffic. Tier-2 media (130K–399K visits) and tier-3 outlets ( Source: Outset PR Blog This has direct implications for competition. Tier-1 publishers benefit from entrenched domain authority and algorithmic preference that compound over time. For most Tier-2 outlets, upward mobility is structurally constrained, regardless of editorial quality. The “middle class” of crypto media has largely disappeared. CryptoDaily stands out by growth and engagement, not scale Against this backdrop, CryptoDaily ranked second overall by growth performance using Outset PR’s Composite Score , which blends relative growth, absolute gains, and engagement quality. CryptoDaily’s model differs sharply from velocity-driven news outlets: Balanced traffic mix between direct (43%) and organic (44%) The highest pages-per-visit metric in the dataset AI referrals account for over 32% of its referral traffic Rather than relying on breaking news cycles or social virality, CryptoDaily benefits from content architecture designed for systematic exploration and decision-support reading. This positioning aligns well with how users increasingly discover information—through AI tools that reward structure, clarity, and topical organization. The data suggests CryptoDaily is capturing research-oriented readers, not just headline consumers. AI discovery has become a primary battleground One of the most consequential findings in the report is the rise of AI-driven discovery. Across US crypto-native media, AI referrals now represent 25.6% of all referral traffic. However, AI traffic behaves differently from traditional audiences. It delivers high-intent visits, but limited loyalty. AI sends users to extract answers, not to form habits. For publishers, this creates a new trade-off between discoverability and audience ownership. For founders and PR teams, it reshapes where factual visibility and brand narrative diverge. What Outset Data Pulse Report Tells the Crypto Industry For publishers, the US market now rewards either extreme scale or clear specialization. Generic positioning is increasingly punished with invisibility. For Web3 founders and communications teams, the implications are equally stark. Media placement strategy must distinguish between: Reach vs credibility AI visibility vs brand narrative Speed vs durability Tier-1 coverage remains irreplaceable for awareness. Growth-oriented and AI-optimized outlets play a different role—useful, but not substitutable. The architecture of discovery has changed. Those who treat US crypto media as a flat landscape risk optimizing for the wrong outcomes. This analysis is based on Outset PR’s Q4 2025 US crypto media traffic study covering 130 publishers, using standardized Similarweb data and editor interviews. The full dataset is available via Outset Data Pulse series. Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
30 Jan 2026, 10:47
Bitdeer: Markets Are Pricing A Miner, But Full Stack Compute Ahead
Summary Bitdeer is executing its vertical integration strategy, delivering record Q3 2025 revenue of $169.7M and rapid hashrate growth. Bitdeer now controls 71 EH/s of total hashrate under management and 55 EH/s of self-mining hashrate, surpassing a giant like MARA. Q4 2025 is on track to be Bitdeer’s third consecutive quarter of record revenue, driven by higher self-mining output. Beyond mining, near-term catalysts include the Ohio AI-ready site and formalized guidance for a $2B ARR, which could trigger a valuation rerating if execution remains on track. Last August, I argued that Bitdeer’s ( BTDR ) vertical integration thesis , which I have long held on to , was finally being validated. For most of the past two fiscal years, the market seemed skeptical that a mining firm could successfully design its own chips while also scaling infrastructure and executing a pivot to AI compute, thus BTDR traded at compressed valuation for most of 2023 and 2024 compared to peers because the R&D spend to build the proprietary hardware was not yet validated. Fast forward to today, the record revenues we are seeing shows that Bitdeer is delivering on its in-house chip strategy. Bitdeer has officially grown from a single-focus Bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) miner to a diversified compute powerhouse. With the launch of its in-house chip and mining machine roadmap first laid out in 2024, the fourth release of the chip, SEAL04 chips, have passed its latest verification tests where they were reported to have achieved between 6 - 7 J/Th efficiency, with mass production targeted for Q1 2026 (as reported in Bitdeer's December 2025 production and operations update ). And the 570 MW AI-ready pipeline in Ohio slated to be energized in the second half of this year (out of a 3 GW global pipeline spread across the U.S., Norway, and Malaysia), are the near term catalysts to watch. While the broader market remains fixated on Bitcoin miners’ HPC pivots and lease deals at the moment, they could be missing the infrastructure arbitrage Bitdeer has. Bitdeer is currently sitting on a power portfolio twice the size of some HPC/AI peers in addition to in-house chip design, yet BTDR trades like a capital constrained pure play miner. It seems the market assumes Bitdeer is behind on AI because they haven't announced a multi-year hyperscaler lease deal yet. What the market might be missing is that Bitdeer is building vertical ownership and an “as-a-Service” AI business model here. Bitdeer is designing both the silicon (now at SEAL04 chips) and will be managing the infrastructure, and selling compute capacity directly to its clients, with potential for higher margins. Though it might look unattractive from the start because headline multi billion HPC deals have been the market’s obsession lately. We can attest to the tangible execution gains from the deployment of the SEAL chips and SEALMINER machines so far, which began as internal prototypes about two years ago. By using the SEALMINER A1 and A2 for self mining, Bitdeer avoided the high markups typically paid to hardware vendors like Bitmain. This has allowed the company to efficiently scale hashrate. Bitcoin miners' hashrate, Jan. 2026 (BitcoinMiningStock) The crux of it is that Bitdeer’s hashrate has surpassed that of a giant like Mara Holding ( RIOT ) lately, and Bitdeer now controls about 71 EH/s of total hashrate under management and about 55 EH/s of self mining hashrate. The direct driver of this level of scaling has been the vertical integration strategy, which has been my core thesis since I initiated coverage in June 2024 at around $7 stock price. There has been large scale deployment of SEALMINER A2 machines at the company. Q2 2025 Q3 2025 Change (%) Total Revenue $155.6M $169.7M +9.1% Self-Mining Rev $59.3M $130.9M +120.7% Gross Profit $12.8M $40.8M +218.8% Adjusted EBITDA $17.3M $43.0M +148.6% Thanks to those deployments, Bitdeer's Q3 2025 revenue was a record for the company at $169.7 million, and a 173.6% YoY increase. Remember that Q2 2025 revenue was also a record for the company at the time it was released. While total revenue only increased sequentially by ~9%, gross profit soared 218% sequentially from $12.8M to $40.8M, while adjusted EBITDA increased by 148% QoQ to reach $43 million. The main takeaway here is that Bitdeer beat Q2’s record top-line numbers sequentially by 9.1% but saw better operating leverage in profitability lines GAAP net loss was $266.7 million, of which $247.6 million of that loss came from the fair value change of derivative liabilities related to convertible senior notes. Sector Q2 2025 Q3 2025 % Change Self-Mining $59.3M $130.9M +120.7% SEALMINER Sales $69.5M $11.4M -83.6% Hosting (Gen & Member) $23.9M $22.4M -6.3% AI Cloud & HPC $1.3M $1.8M +38.5% Total Revenue $155.6M $169.7M +9.1% Bitdeer currently diversifies its revenue stream from four different sources, of which the self-mining segment remains the highest contributor to the top line to date. In Q3, self-mining revenue surged 120.7% sequentially. Self-mining increased from 38% of total revenue in Q2 to 77% of total revenue in Q3. The self-mining revenue surge, matches the 112% jump in self-mining capacity from 16.5 EH/s in Q2 to 35.0 EH/s at the end of Q3 (remember I mentioned that has since increased to 55.2 EH/s post Q3). Also note how revenue from SEALMINER sales dropped by 83% QoQ in Q3. This is where the whole vertical integration strategy starts to make sense. By being a hardware manufacturer, Bitdeer at its discretion, can dynamically route sales of the proprietary built SEALMINERs or prioritize deployment for its own self-mining hashrate for a particular period, as mining economics dictates. This is what Bitdeer did in Q3 (as the revenue composition shows); they prioritized in-house deployments of the SEALMINERS (reflected in the jump in exahash). The sequential results confirm that this pivot (prioritizing in-house self mining) was the right call in Q3. Despite the top-line only growing by single digits, the bottom-line metrics (gross profit and adjusted EBITDA) improved greatly because Bitdeer captured the entire value chain (you can verify the figures in the first table shared earlier in this piece). Basically, as Bitdeer deployed their own chips, their cost to generate each dollar of revenue dropped. This is typically unheard of for a miner scaling at this speed (doubling hashrate in a single quarter). Typically for miners, more hashrate means a linear increase in costs which temporarily compresses margins. Understanding Bitdeer's AI Pivot While a portion of the market might be awaiting a lease deal similar to that the likes of IREN ( IREN ), TeraWulf ( WULF ), among others, have seen lately, I’d say Bitdeer's AI pivot is a bit more ambitious. It is now clear that Bitdeer plans to operate a full-stack cloud model; the recent NVIDIA GB200 NVL72 clusters deployment in Malaysia earlier this month points towards that strategy. Bitdeer didn’t announce a leasing partner for the Malaysia site, but rather deployed the NVIDIA GB200 NVL72 infrastructure directly. Bitdeer is an Nvidia ( NVDA ) cloud partner, and being an Nvidia cloud partner means Bitdeer has been vetted to deliver full-stack NVIDIA infrastructure on the hardware, software, and architectural layers. Bitdeer achieved the status of Preferred Cloud Service Provider [CSP] in the NVIDIA Partner Network in November 2023. This partnership is the backbone of the $2 billion ARR management targets. What I believe the market might be missing in this AI pivot is that Bitdeer's effective vertical integration through SEAL chips and miners gives them lots of potential for cash flow from mining to fund these AI purchases without needing to lean on a tech giant for a multi-billion dollar lease deal to validate their strategy. As the results in Q3 and subsequent operational updates have shown, the expansion in gross margins is on a scale much higher than revenue growth, and between the aggressive ramp-up in hashrate and the potential to achieve some of the lowest efficiencies (J/Th) when SEAL04 chips launch soon, the favorable economics of seeing the top-line accelerate while gross margin accelerate even higher is bound to continue. Potential Near-Term Catalysts For BTDR When the Q4 report drops in February, it will likely be the definitive proof of the vertical integration strategy's success. At ~55.2 EH/s currently, and based on the October to December 2025 monthly operations updates, in which 511 BTC was self-mined in October, 526 BTC in November, and 636 BTC in December, revenue from self-mining alone is expected to be ~$160 million (at ~$95,000 average BTC spot price in Q4). Given the higher hashrate and BTC production jump in Q4, I believe Q4 is on track to be Bitdeer's third consecutive quarter of record revenue and sequential revenue growth. I also anticipate management to provide guidance for full year 2026 for active AI cloud revenue potential. In both the last September and October production updates, management reiterated the aim at a $2 billion plus ARR, but if management formalizes the path to that $2 billion ARR target via the Ohio site with clearer near term milestones that the market can understand and will see as feasible, I believe the Bitcoin mining discount currently depressing the stock will begin to evaporate. If it Goes According to Plan, How Will BTDR be Valued? I believe if the 200 MW target for AI workload is reached later this year and the path to the $2 billion ARR becomes more visible, BTDR could command a premium compared to peers who have signed lease deals only in their HPC/AI pivot. Valuation could rerate toward premium, more like pure play AI cloud companies like CoreWeave ( CRWV ) or Nebius ( NBIS ). CoreWeave currently trades around 9.3x sales. If we apply even a conservative 5x-6x multiple to Bitdeer’s projected $2 billion ARR, the AI business alone would be worth $10 billion – $12 billion, more than 3x the company's current total market cap of ~$3.3 billion. Though I expect BTDR to always have a slight discount compared to CRWV or NBIS, because the market will always likely factor in risks from the Bitcoin mining segment in the company's sum-of-the-parts valuation. Risks and Takeaway The biggest risk to this vertical integration and AI pivot theses is execution speed. Bitdeer already faces a class action lawsuit from a faction of investors regarding SEALMINERS A4 and SEAL04 chip delays, thus management must deliver the Ohio site on schedule. Any delay in the Q3 2026 power-up target would give the bears a reason to keep the miner discount firmly in place. BTDR isn't being priced yet like an AI focused cloud provider with potential for high margin recurring ARR. The AI pivot differs from most Bitcoin mining peers. Bitdeer targets a full stack cloud model where it will own virtually everything, including the customer relationships. Back to back record revenue and the rise in hashrate to become a top miner in terms of mining capacity, surpassing a giant like RIOT proves the vertical integration thesis is still intact.
30 Jan 2026, 03:00
Bitcoin Is The Money Of The AI-Powered Economy: CryptoQuant CEO
CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju revived the “Bitcoin equals energy” thesis on Wednesday, arguing that proof-of-work is becoming the settlement layer for an AI-driven economy where power, not narratives, is the binding constraint. In a post on X, Ju framed Bitcoin as a digital instrument that can price energy with precision in a way commodities can’t. “Energy is money. Bitcoin precisely measures the value of energy,” Ju wrote. “Gold also embeds energy, but it cannot be measured accurately because it is not digital. Bitcoin is the money of an AI-accelerated energy economy.” The Link Between AI, Energy And Bitcoin Ju’s comments were posted alongside a long-form X post by Hashed CEO Simon Kim titled Monetizing Energy: Redefining Bitcoin’s Role in the AI Era, which argues that the old “energy waste” critique is being overtaken by an AI data center buildout that is rewriting the value of mining infrastructure. Kim’s core claim is that the debate has shifted from morality to grid economics and industrial pragmatism. “The oldest criticism of Bitcoin has always been about energy,” he wrote. “Claims that it ‘wastes electricity,’ ‘destroys the environment,’ and ‘competes with data centers for power’ have been repeated for over a decade, solidifying into conventional wisdom. But in 2026, this debate no longer resides in the realm of moral condemnation.” The thread points to capital flows as a tell. Kim highlighted Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala’s $437 million allocation to BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF in Q4 2024, followed by a partnership with Oman’s sovereign wealth fund to back Crusoe Energy and launch the Middle East’s first flare-gas mining operation. In October 2025, Mubadala co-led Crusoe’s Series E with a $1.375 billion check, pushing the company’s valuation above $10 billion—at which point Crusoe said it would divest its Bitcoin mining division and focus fully on AI infrastructure. Related Reading: Bitcoin Death Cross That Last Preceded A 66% Drop Is Back Kim’s thesis is that miners have already done the hard, unglamorous work AI now needs: securing power, mastering high-density thermal management, and building operational muscle around flexible load. He also leaned on an Elon Musk quote from a November 2025 podcast: “Energy is the true currency. This is why I say Bitcoin is based on energy. You can’t just pass a law and suddenly have a lot of energy.” A recurring theme in Kim’s post is that electricity’s constraints (locality, immediacy, and transmission losses) make flexibility economically valuable. He cited early examples like Sichuan hydropower curtailment exceeding 20 billion kWh by 2020, and argued that miners became a buyer of last resort for energy that couldn’t be stored or sold. Globally, he claimed curtailed renewable energy exceeds 200TWh annually, representing more than $20 billion in economic losses, positioning Bitcoin mining as an instant monetization path for surplus generation. In Texas, Kim pointed to ERCOT’s classification of mining as a controllable load resource, citing Riot Blockchain cutting power usage by 98–99% during the 2022 winter storm and receiving $31.7 million in power credits during an August 2023 heatwave, more than it would have earned mining that month. The framing is less “miners versus data centers” and more “premium uptime workloads versus interruptible demand that stabilizes the grid.” Related Reading: Bitcoin Won’t Break Out Until The Fed Steps Into Yen/JGB Chaos: Arthur Hayes Kim also argued the environmental critique is changing on the margin as the industry’s energy mix shifts. He claimed more than half of mining now comes from sustainable sources, exceeding 52%, while coal dependence fell from 36% to under 9%. On methane, he described flare-gas mining as an emissions arbitrage: methane has “80 times” the greenhouse effect of CO2, flaring combusts 93% with 7% escaping, while using gas for mining combusts over 99%, cutting CO2-equivalent emissions by over 60% versus flaring. The forward implication of Ju’s framing is that if AI accelerates the premium on reliable power and buildout speed, Bitcoin’s value proposition may increasingly be argued in the language of energy markets: measuring, monetizing, and transporting scarcity. Kim’s closing challenge was explicit: shift the question from consumption totals to system outcomes, suggesting the next phase of the debate will center on where miners sit in the stack of AI-era infrastructure, not whether they exist: “AI operates where continuous uptime is essential; Bitcoin operates where flexibility has value. Governments can print money, but they cannot print energy. Bitcoin’s proof-of-work is the mechanism that brings this physical reality into the digital economy. It’s a technology that takes energy from one place and transports it anywhere.” At press time, Bitcoin traded at $86,779. Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
