Key Takeaways
- SWI Group took control of Genesis Digital and raised about $896M to expand AI data centers.
- The pivot shows bitcoin miners are repurposing power infrastructure for higher-value AI compute.
- The key test is whether SWI can turn former mining sites into durable hyperscale contracts.
Genesis Digital Pivots From Bitcoin Mining to AI Data Centers
A bitcoin mining company once tangled in the wreckage of FTX is getting a second life, this time as an artificial-intelligence (AI) infrastructure play.
SWI Group has acquired a majority stake in Genesis Digital Assets and plans to convert much of its data-center estate from crypto mining toward AI and cloud-computing workloads, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The Amsterdam-listed infrastructure company announced on Monday, Oct. 12, that it has raised $896 million (€800 million) to finance upgrades and expansion across its data-center portfolio.
“We need capital to deploy more compute,” SWI Chief Executive Max-Hervé George said. On bitcoin mining, his position was even clearer: he has “zero interest.”
From Bitcoin Mining to AI Compute
The assets SWI wants are the power-heavy data centers Genesis Digital built across Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina and Sweden.
Those facilities could now be repurposed for hyperscalers such as Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud, which need enormous amounts of computing capacity to support AI services.
Genesis Digital previously focused heavily on bitcoin mining, including large operations in Kazakhstan. SWI is now selling the company’s final three small mining sites there.
The pivot reflects a broader trend across crypto mining. Data-center operators that once optimized facilities for bitcoin are increasingly chasing AI customers, where long-term computing contracts can offer more predictable and potentially higher returns.
FTX Put More Than $1 Billion Into Genesis Digital
Genesis Digital’s history makes the turnaround particularly striking.
Founded in 2017, the company grew into one of the world’s largest bitcoin miners. Alameda Research, the trading firm closely linked to FTX, began investing in 2021 and ultimately spent more than $1 billion, acquiring roughly a 20% stake.
After FTX collapsed in November 2022, bankruptcy administrators later described Genesis Digital as one of Bankman-Fried’s most reckless investments. They sued to recover about $1.15 billion, arguing that some of the miner’s assets had been dramatically overvalued.
The lawsuit was dropped on June 15, 2026.
SWI Bets $500 Million, Then Takes Control
The same day the lawsuit was dropped, SWI announced an initial $500 million investment in Genesis Digital. It has since increased its stake to become the majority owner. George said disputes involving FTX and other shareholders have now been settled.
For SWI, the acquisition is less about reviving a crypto miner than buying scarce power infrastructure already built for energy-intensive computing.
That is what makes the deal worth watching.
Genesis Digital was once a symbol of excess during the crypto boom. Now its most valuable asset may be something entirely different: data centers that can be rewired for the AI economy.
