Amid growing fears that the artificial intelligence (AI) bubble may have burst, Wall Street trading is kept alive by a fundamental problem: Bitcoin. BTC$87,396.14 Miners and data center developers still require large amounts of power.
“The M&A work is still going on because people still need leverage,” Joe Nardini, head of investment banking at B. Riley Securities, said in an interview with CoinDesk.
Nardini said power demand from Bitcoin miners remains “huge,” but added that demand from AI and high-performance computing (HPC) is “even greater,” with data centers and mining clients reporting sustained demand for GPU-enabled facilities.
After the Bitcoin halving cut their rewards in half, miners faced severe margin pressure even at prices near or above $100,000 and increasingly focused on hosting AI and high-performance computing (HPC) hardware in existing data centers. This has fueled a surge in some BTC mining stocks this year when AI hype has taken the market by storm.
Read more: GPU gold rush: Why Bitcoin miners are focused on scaling AI
In early 2025, growing concerns about artificial intelligence and high valuations wiped out significant market value for major technology companies, including Nvidia (NVDA) and other AI beneficiaries, as investors took profits and reassessed whether prices were above fundamentals.
Shares of AI infrastructure specialist Coreweave (CRWV) have also fallen, and are now more than 50% below their June high.
Does this mean the AI trend is over? Nardini doesn’t think so, and there’s some simple logic behind this, asking management. “Do your clients have demand for the capacity of the data centers you build?” “Yes.” Do you have tenants? “Yes.” Are they good tenants? “Yes.” Are they getting good rates? “Yes.” He said his message throughout multiple conversations has been consistent: “The demand is still there.”
In fact, Hut 8’s stock price rose as much as 20% last week after it signed a 15-year, $7 billion lease with Fluidstack for 245 megawatts of IT capacity at its Riverbend campus.
“Despite recent stock price declines, these companies have benefited from higher valuation multiples and the ability to raise capital at attractive valuations and terms,” he said.
Inside the deal
This demand continues to support valuations, Nardini said, and M&A negotiations are becoming increasingly active.
He said that in a competitive situation with high-quality power and a viable location, the dollar per megawatt figure (a financial metric that shows the value of each megawatt of electricity) could look “very attractive.” He said one process included valuations of more than $400,000 per megawatt, which could reach $450,000 per megawatt depending on the outcome of negotiations. In fact, he’s seen deals as high as $500,000 to $550,000 per megawatt in previous deals.
But the demand for sites in poor condition or less desirable locations remains, with “low” bids still coming in, sometimes from $100,000 to $250,000 per megawatt, from buyers who like the power but don’t value the market or the quality of the site.
So who are these buyers and sellers?
Nardini said buyers include hyperscalers (large technology companies that provide cloud computing infrastructure), AI companies and Bitcoin miners, while the universe of sellers has expanded beyond crypto-native players.
He has seen the deal process for older industrial facilities, such as a 160-year-old facility whose main attraction is electricity, even if the market is not large. In another case, a private seller of a similar type of asset received interest from around 25 potential buyers seeking an NDA involving Bitcoin, he said. BTC$87,396.14 Miners, hyperscalers, and AI companies.
This dynamic creates an unusual strategic juncture for asset owners. Sell to hyperscalers and developers, or try to become a developer yourself.
Nardini said industrial companies with older, idle, or near-idle equipment that can provide power are looking to sell into the AI/HPC and Bitcoin ecosystems.
He gave another example of a private customer repurposing an old office block into modular power capacity, “build a 30 megawatt unit at a clip” and is now seeking additional funding for expansion.
He said in at least one negotiation, a tenant was even willing to prepay rent before completion, which he believes shows how much desired capacity is missing.
no need to worry yet
Looking ahead to 2026, Nardini said there is a potentially “risk-on environment” in place, with structures still in place to favor risky assets if interest rates fall, which would be positive for trading in the industry.
He acknowledged he may be “speaking my mind a little bit” but said the business realities he’s hearing from management keep him constructive. The tenants are there, pricing remains strong, and if one customer doesn’t use the site, “someone else will.”
His warning against positive emotions is simple. If developers can’t lease what they create or get the price they need, that’s when it’s time to worry. So far, he has not heard of such a story. “The bones of the business remain intact,” he said.
He concluded with a candid assessment of his emotions.
“Demand for power and AI HPC data center capacity continues unabated. Developers with data center capacity enjoy demand from multiple credit-worthy tenants at favorable rates, so the core economics of their business remain intact.”
Nardini said buyers remain hungry for energy and sellers are getting good valuations for their assets. This further strengthens his belief.
“AI trade will still be alive on December 17, 2025,” he said.
Read more: Amazon enters AI arms race as crypto and risk asset fears grow
