VanEck: Bitcoin Miners Sitting on a 'Gold Mine' Amid AI Energy Shortage

Miners Emerge as AI Energy Suppliers

Bitcoin mining companies hold a significant strategic advantage as the artificial intelligence industry faces a deepening energy shortage. That's the assessment of Matthew Sigel, head of digital assets at VanEck, who shared his views in a CNBC interview.

According to Sigel, mining firms are aggressively diversifying their capacity to serve the AI market, yet they still trade at a massive discount to other data center operators on a market-cap-per-megawatt basis. He noted that miners were among the first to recognize the value of their resources amid surging demand from AI developers. Infrastructure originally built for cryptocurrency mining has proven to be a suitable foundation for hosting next-generation computing workloads.

Why This Matters

The global AI boom has triggered enormous demand for electricity and data center capacity. Mining operations that already own ready-to-deploy energy infrastructure are evolving from niche crypto businesses into full-fledged compute power providers. This trend could reshape investment flows: market participants gain exposure to the AI sector through equities that remain significantly cheaper than pure-play data center operators on key valuation metrics.

Who Is Already Pivoting

Sigel highlighted Core Scientificas a prime example of this transformation. In early March, the miner announced plans to sell the majority of its bitcoin reserves by the end of Q1. Proceeds will fund the expansion of AI capacity. Additionally, Core Scientific secured $500 million from investment bank Morgan Stanley to support the strategy.

Riot Platforms is undergoing a similar overhaul. The company reported record revenue of $647.4 million for 2025, citing its strategic pivot toward AI and high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure as the primary growth driver.

Riot Platforms CEO Jason Les said that 2025 was a transformational year for the company, with its nearly 2 GW energy portfolio being deployed for in-demand data center infrastructure, creating shareholder value in the process.

Market Reaction and Laggards

Financial markets have rewarded the strategic shift: over the past 12 months, shares of both Core Scientific and Riot Platforms have surged more than 91%. Not every miner benefited equally, however — MARA Holdings saw its stock decline 35.8% over the same period. The underperformance has been attributed to rising production costs and lower block mining volumes in 2025.

MARA Holdings has nonetheless unveiled a long-term plan to transition "from a pure bitcoin miner to an energy and digital infrastructure company," signaling its intent to follow the same trajectory.

VanEck's NODE ETF and the On-Chain Economy Thesis

Sigel also discussed the performance of VanEck's exchange-traded fund trading under the ticker NODE. The ETF invests in companies and instruments closely tied to the on-chain economy. According to VanEck's website, the portfolio includes shares of miners Terawulf, Iren, Cipher Mining, Figure Technology Solutions, Core Scientific, and Hut 8.

Since its launch in May of last year, NODE has gained more than 30%, with assets under management reaching $56 million. Sigel emphasized that the firm's focus has shifted away from altcoins toward areas where crypto intersects with the real economy and generates cash flow.

In a related development, miner Bitdeer sold its entire bitcoin holdings in late February 2026, explaining the move as part of plans to acquire new infrastructure assets.