rewrite this title Bitfarms Completes Acquisition of Stronghold Digital Mining as It Eyes AI Demand – Decrypt

Bitcoin mining giant Bitfarms has completed its acquisition of Stronghold Digital Mining, the company said on Monday. 

The Canadian mining company said in its announcement that the acquisition would help it focus on artificial intelligence by using the new site to optimize its data warehouses and sell space to AI firms. 

Bitcoin miners are increasingly homing in on AI. Both industries require huge amounts of energy and miners are able to use their existing infrastructure to cater to the demand for AI. 

“With Stronghold’s portfolio of power assets, combined with our operational expertise and balance sheet strength, we are well positioned to create long-term value for our shareholders by executing on our U.S. strategy and developing high-performance computing/AI business geared for scale,” Bitfarms said in a statement. 

Toronto-based Bitfarms last year said it would buy Stronghold Digital in a deal it valued at $175 million, including $125 million in equity value. 

Analysts told Decrypt at the time that the deal would help boost Bitfarms valuation and make it a more challenging acquisition target for its rival Riot, which has been trying to purchase the firm since 2023. 

In Monday’s announcement, Bitfarms said it had secured a 1.1 GW growth pipeline in Pennsylvania, including current power generation capacity, grid import capacity and future import capacity. 

Bitfarms has 15 Bitcoin data centers in Canada, the U.S., Paraguay, and Argentina.

Edited by James Rubin