Crypto Mining Stocks Climb as AI Infrastructure Shift Outweighs Bitcoin Drop

Shares of prominent crypto mining companies advanced on Tuesday afternoon, breaking from their historical correlation with underlying digital asset prices. Cipher Mining gained 8% to reach $19.18, while MARA Holdings rose 6% to $11.96. Other peers followed a similar trajectory, with IREN Limited up 7% at $47.99 and TeraWulf advancing 9% to $17.94. The gains came during the first full trading session after a holiday weekend.

The equity rally diverged from the spot crypto market. Bitcoin traded down 0.7% over 24 hours at $78,666.21, and the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF fell 2%. The move highlights an evolving narrative in which investors reprice power capacity and grid interconnection rights for artificial intelligence and high-performance computing (HPC) rather than purely as leveraged proxies for Bitcoin.

Neither Cipher Mining nor MARA Holdings released fresh corporate updates to explain Tuesday's trading. However, both companies have increasingly committed capacity to computing infrastructure. Cipher delivered its Black Pearl HPC data center ahead of schedule with contracted operations targeting around $793 million in average annualized net operating income, alongside an $810 million bond offering to fund its Stingray site. Meanwhile, MARA has secured rights to a 2 GW site in Texas, entered a partnership with Starwood targeting 90% of non-hosted capacity for AI conversion, and is pursuing a 505 MW acquisition of Long Ridge Energy.