A wave of acquisition speculation has lifted crypto mining stocks across the board, with CoreWeave Inc.’s reported pursuit of Core Scientific serving as the catalyst for a sector-wide rally that saw shares surge on renewed optimism about consolidation in an industry where survival increasingly depends on scale.
Core Scientific’s stock more than doubled from its previous $5.75 bid price following news of the AI cloud firm’s interest—a remarkable transformation for a company that operates one of North America’s largest digital infrastructure platforms. The acquisition talks created a sympathy rally that lifted Applied Digital, Galaxy Digital, and IREN, proving once again that in crypto markets, proximity to good news often matters more than fundamentals.
In crypto markets, proximity to good news often matters more than fundamentals when acquisition fever strikes.
The timing couldn’t be more ironic. While acquisition fever grips investors, the actual business of mining Bitcoin has become increasingly punishing. Network difficulty recently hit all-time highs, pushing the industry toward the zetahash era as public miners like MARA, CleanSpark, IREN, HIVE, and Cipher expand aggressively. Yet hashprice continues falling alongside historically low transaction fees, creating a brutal squeeze on revenue margins following the latest halving event. This pressure comes as the broader cryptocurrency ecosystem evolves, with decentralized exchanges like Uniswap and SushiSwap facilitating billions in trading volume through automated market makers rather than traditional intermediaries.
CleanSpark emerged as a standout performer, with shares jumping 13% after achieving its mid-year target of 50 EH/s hashrate. The company mined 694 Bitcoin in May—a 10% month-over-month increase—while maintaining a treasury of over 12,500 Bitcoin after strategic sales. Management’s emphasis on proprietary infrastructure control appears prescient as median direct mining costs are projected to exceed $70,000 per BTC in Q2 2025. CleanSpark’s premium valuation appears justified given the company’s impressive 90.1% revenue increase in the last 12 months, rising from $283 million to $537 million.
The market’s sharp divergence in mining stock performance reflects investors’ growing sophistication in evaluating operational efficiency and revenue diversification strategies. Applied Digital’s earlier volatility from CoreWeave’s stake divestment was quickly forgotten amid acquisition speculation, helped by the company’s $7 billion, 15-year lease agreement providing stability. Meanwhile, retail investors are turning to cloud mining platforms that offer accessible entry points with automated contracts and daily returns, democratizing participation in crypto mining beyond traditional stock investments.
What emerges is a sector where scale and strategic partnerships increasingly determine survival. The CoreWeave-Core Scientific talks, built upon their existing 12-year hosting partnership, suggest that the future belongs to miners who can transcend pure commodity production—transforming from Bitcoin factories into diversified digital infrastructure providers serving the AI revolution’s voracious computational appetite.
