Crypto-related stocks outperformed the broader market on Monday as investors shifted money away from artificial intelligence infrastructure companies and into digital asset firms, while bitcoin miners with growing AI exposure came under renewed selling pressure.
Wall Street keeps reassessing valuations in AI-linked infrastructure companies amid concerns about rising capital spending requirements, financing risks and intensifying competition from Chinese semiconductor manufacturers.
The rotation lifted cryptocurrency-focused companies even as major chip stocks declined and the broader market weakened. Among the biggest winners was Bitmine Immersion, which surged 11% after announcing it had increased its ether holdings by nearly 10,000 ETH, valued at approximately $19.4 million based on current market prices.
The purchase reinforces the company's strategy of building an ether treasury as institutional interest in the cryptocurrency continues to expand. Sharplink Gaming, another company pursuing an ether treasury strategy, climbed 6%, while Strategy, formerly known as MicroStrategy and widely regarded as the pioneer of the corporate bitcoin treasury model, gained 7%.
The company recently chose to strengthen its cash position for a fifth consecutive week instead of purchasing additional bitcoin, signaling a more cautious approach to capital allocation.
Other crypto firms also posted solid gains. Coinbase Global, digital asset custodian BitGo and financial technology company Figure Technology all advanced between 4% and 6%.
Circle Internet Group, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, added 2% after announcing it had acquired IBM's global portfolio of more than 1,000 blockchain-related patents.
Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed, but the acquisition significantly expands Circle's intellectual property portfolio as competition in blockchain infrastructure continues to intensify.
The gains across crypto stocks contrasted sharply with the weakness seen in companies tied to AI infrastructure, particularly bitcoin miners that have increasingly positioned themselves as providers of computing power for artificial intelligence applications.
Michael Donovan, senior research analyst at Compass Point, told CNBC that concerns over financing needs are weighing heavily on the sector.
"Today's weakness partly reflects concern around capex requirements and whether companies across the miner-to-AI group may need to raise incremental capital at higher costs to fund their development pipelines," Donovan said.
The pressure intensified after reports came out that Nvidia is discussing financial support for OpenAI's plans to lease a massive AI data center in Ohio. According to Donovan, the discussions highlight the growing reliance on credit markets to finance the enormous infrastructure investments required to support the AI boom.
Investors have increasingly valued publicly traded bitcoin miners not only for their cryptocurrency production but also for their access to power capacity, energy contracts and data center infrastructure, making them closely tied to the broader AI investment theme.
Cipher Mining led losses among AI-exposed miners, falling 8%. Core Scientific, which has largely shifted its business toward AI infrastructure and away from traditional bitcoin mining, dropped 9%. Hut 8 declined 6%, while TeraWulf lost 4%.
Even companies with a primary focus on bitcoin mining were caught in the sell-off. Riot Platforms fell 5%, Mara Holdings declined 3%, and CleanSpark slipped 4%. Analysts say many of these stocks now trade together through sector exchange-traded funds, thematic investment baskets and algorithmic trading strategies.
As a result, concerns affecting AI infrastructure often spill over into bitcoin miners regardless of their direct exposure to artificial intelligence. Owen Lau, an analyst at ClearStreet, told CNBC that growing worries about circular financing within the AI sector, combined with stronger competition from Chinese chipmakers, accelerated the shift toward alternative investment themes such as cryptocurrency.
Donovan said investors are increasingly questioning whether funding for large AI infrastructure projects can continue without significant shareholder dilution, expensive debt or additional financial backing from strategic partners.
"Some investors are questioning whether credit appetite for these projects is approaching its limits and which developers can fund their pipelines without meaningful dilution, expensive debt or additional support from customers and strategic partners," Donovan said.
"That may create a near-term overhang for the group, even though we continue to view the base compute infrastructure segment of AI as attractive and structurally supply-constrained."
Meanwhile, cryptocurrency prices were relatively stable. Bitcoin traded below the $65,000 mark, while ether rose more than 1% to around $1,900, providing a supportive backdrop for crypto-related equities despite broader market volatility.
