The crypto mining market is undergoing a fundamental transformation. On July 20, Hut 8 signed a 15-year lease agreement for the second phase of its Beacon Point AI campus in Texas, totaling $9.8 billion. This is not just a deal — it is a signal that the industry's largest players are definitively shifting from Bitcoin mining to providing computing power for artificial intelligence.
The contract was signed with the same tenant as the first phase — a company with a high investment rating, whose name has not been disclosed. Hut 8 will build an additional 352 MW of capacity on Nvidia architecture, increasing the tenant's total contracted power at the site to 704 MW. The full commercialization of the 1 GW campus has already resulted in the base value of Beacon Point contracts reaching $19.6 billion, which could grow to $50.2 billion including renewal options.
Across Hut 8's entire AI data center portfolio, 949 MW are contracted, with a total base value of agreements amounting to $26.6 billion. The average annual net operating income exceeds $1.75 billion. The market reaction was immediate: Hut 8 shares surged 10% to $104.51. The upward wave also swept other miners: Cipher Mining gained 15.4%, TeraWulf rose 5.4%, and the CoinShares Bitcoin Miners ETF increased by 10.6%.
IREN: New Records and Strategic Partnerships
Meanwhile, another major miner — IREN — announced the signing of cloud AI service contracts worth $2.8 billion. The company raised its AI Cloud annual revenue forecast to $4 billion, with 85% of this amount already secured by signed agreements. Clients include Microsoft, Nvidia, Perplexity, Figure AI, and other leading developers. IREN also noted that approximately 45% of GPU capital expenditures are covered by prepayments, significantly reducing the need for external financing.
IREN co-founder and co-CEO Daniel Roberts highlighted impressive momentum: over 12 months, the company grew from 3 MW of proprietary AI Cloud capacity to 480 MW, with plans for 1.2 GW by 2027. IREN shares responded with an 18.7% increase.
Recall that earlier in July, MARA Holdings acquired a site in Texas for $600 million, and TeraWulf announced plans to raise $3.5 billion for a data center for Anthropic. We are witnessing not just a trend, but a structural shift: miners are becoming key players in the AI infrastructure market. This is logical — their experience in managing energy-intensive data centers and access to cheap electricity make them ideal partners for AI giants.