Bitcoin News Today: CleanSpark Bets $1.15B on AI Data Centers as Bitcoin Mining Wanes

CleanSpark, Inc. (Nasdaq: CLSK) has secured a $1.15 billion convertible notes offering with 0% interest to navigate the turbulent Bitcoin mining sector, signaling a strategic pivot toward data center expansion and shareholder value creation. The zero-coupon convertible senior notes, maturing in February 2032, were priced at a 27.5% conversion premium to the company's stock price of $15.03 on Nov. 10, 2025, allowing holders to convert the debt into shares at $19.16 apiece, according to Lelezard. Proceeds will fund a $460 million share repurchase, power and land portfolio growth, data center development, and repayment of bitcoin-backed credit lines, as Yahoo Finance reported.

The offering, upsized from an initial $1 billion proposal, includes a $150 million over-allotment option for underwriters, reflecting investor confidence in CleanSpark's transition from energy-intensive Bitcoin mining to high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure, as TradingView noted. The company's stock fell 6% in pre-market trading, however, as markets weigh execution risks amid broader industry volatility, Yahoo Finance reported.

CleanSpark's move aligns with a sector-wide shift as firms retool mining assets for AI-driven workloads.

Competitor Cipher Mining, for instance, recently announced a $1.4 billion secured notes offering to build a 285-megawatt AI data center in Texas, backed by Google and Amazon, as CryptoRank reported. Similarly, Australian miner IREN struck a $9.7 billion cloud computing deal with Microsoft, leveraging its Texas facilities to host Nvidia GPUs for AI training, as StartupStoryMedia reported. These pivots underscore the growing demand for energy-efficient compute infrastructure, with the global AI data center market projected to surge from $168 billion in 2024 to $933 billion by 2030, CryptoRank reported.

CleanSpark's convertible notes structure reflects unique risk mitigation. The debt, unsecured and non-accreting, avoids regular interest payments, reducing near-term liquidity pressure, according to Lelezard. However, the company retains the right to redeem the notes in 2029 if its stock price exceeds 130% of the conversion price for 20 consecutive trading days, Lelezard reported. This "callable" feature could pressure share prices if CleanSpark's growth story falters.

The offering also highlights the Bitcoin mining industry's fragility. Margins have eroded as energy costs rise and hash rate competition intensifies, pushing firms to diversify. CleanSpark's 1.3 gigawatt power portfolio, coupled with its strategic Houston site development, positions it to capitalize on AI's insatiable appetite for compute power, Yahoo Finance noted. Yet execution risks remain, particularly in retrofitting mining facilities for high-density AI hardware-a challenge that dented Cipher Mining's stock despite its $3 billion Fluidstack deal, CryptoRank reported.

Analysts remain divided. While Canaccord Genuity upgraded IREN's price target to $70 following its Microsoft pact, StartupStoryMedia noted, skeptics question whether CleanSpark's share repurchases will offset dilution from note conversions. The company's forward-looking statements, including projected data center capacity and Bitcoin production, carry inherent uncertainties, Lelezard reported.

As the AI infrastructure race accelerates, CleanSpark's $1.15 billion gamble underscores the sector's transformation. With rivals like Cipher and IREN securing institutional backing, the pressure to deliver scalable, energy-efficient solutions has never been higher.