Bitdeer Pivots to AI, Liquidates BTC, Leases 121 MW to a Mystery Tenant Worth $4.7B 🤖

Bitcoin mining company Bitdeer has signed a 16-year lease agreement valued at up to $4.7 billion to provide artificial intelligence and high-performance computing data center capacity at its Tydal, Norway facility, the company announced Tuesday. Under the agreement, Bitdeer will deliver 121 megawatts of IT capacity to a tenant it identified only as a subsidiary of Volta Infra, with the site configured to support Nvidia GPU-based AI workloads. Bitdeer did not disclose the tenant's identity or specify whether Volta is the end customer or an intermediary. Bloomberg News reported that the Nvidia-backed Volta's $10 billion cloud contract is with Anthropic, citing people familiar with the matter. The lease remains subject to customary closing conditions and is not yet effective, according to the company.

To back the tenant's payment obligations, affiliates of JP Morgan and another unnamed global financial institution are expected to issue approximately $1.3 billion in letters of credit, a bank guarantee that allows the landlord to recover funds if the tenant fails to meet its contractual payment obligations. Bitdeer shares jumped about 8% in early Nasdaq trading following the announcement, with shares of Bitdeer Technologies Group (BTDR) rising sharply on Tuesday as investors responded to the company's continued expansion into AI infrastructure.

The deal extends a broader diversification strategy at Bitdeer beyond its core Bitcoin mining business. Alongside its AI and high-performance computing push, the company has expanded its mining hardware manufacturing operations to reduce reliance on third-party suppliers, announcing a $36 million investment in a Nevada manufacturing facility last month to support that strategy.

Bitdeer has also taken a distinct approach to treasury management relative to many of its publicly traded mining peers by fully liquidating its Bitcoin holdings. In early February, the company held roughly 943 BTC before announcing it had reduced its holdings to zero, while maintaining that it remains committed to the Bitcoin ecosystem. Bitdeer executive Ross Gann said the sales were made to help fund the company's broader expansion strategy, including acquisitions of powered land for AI and Bitcoin mining infrastructure. By contrast, MARA Holdings, Riot Platforms, CleanSpark and Hut 8 each hold at least 10,000 BTC, according to BitcoinTreasuries.NET, with MARA's holdings exceeding 36,000 BTC.