When cryptocurrency prices were on a tear during the COVID-19 pandemic, with prices peaking in November 2021, a Dallas businessman started looking for a way to benefit from the surge without accepting the high risk.
Wes Cummins started Applied Blockchain, now called Applied Digital, which rents out data center space to crypto miners and other players who need a lot of computing power. The company operates on long-term fixed-rate contracts to add more predictability to the business, he said.
“It takes some risk out,” he said. “If our customers all go bankrupt, eventually there’s a risk to us. But it takes the day-to-day price volatility out. And it takes the technology risk out if someone comes out with a new, really great miner.”
