Crypto Biz: AI took a back seat when Bitcoin started climbing

Crypto’s August rally put corporate conviction to the test. Bitcoin (BTC) miners that spent much of the crypto downturn courting AI investors are once again trading like leveraged bets on BTC, while Strategy and Strive are adding thousands more Bitcoin to their balance sheets. The same concentration is playing out elsewhere. Bitmine is closing in on owning 5% of Ether’s (ETH) circulating supply despite billions in unrealized losses, while 21 major financial institutions are taking a different approach by developing stablecoins for payments and settlement.Bitcoin rally puts miners back in the spotlightBitcoin’s August rally lifted beaten-down mining stocks by as much as 67%, reversing a trend that had favored miners pivoting to AI and underscoring the sector’s continued sensitivity to BTC market conditions.BlocksBridge Consulting reported in a recent newsletter that Bitcoin’s roughly 23% rally in late August outpaced most AI-linked infrastructure stocks. Canaan, American Bitcoin and Cango gained between 41% and 67%, compared with about 21% for CoreWeave, 17% for Nebius and 15% for IREN. Meanwhile, some miners with greater exposure to AI and high-performance computing were flat or de...