Crypto Market Split: AI Mining Pivot, ETH Bets, Stablecoin Pause
Historically, crypto markets have been driven by a dominant narrative. Not today. In one corner, miners are trying to break free of four-year cycles. IREN is being recast as an AI infrastructure company, with analysts pointing to data centers and compute demand as the real growth engine. In another corner, BitMine is doing the exact opposite, pouring billions deeper into Ether (ETH) even as losses mount. The disconnect doesnt stop there. Stablecoin balances have ballooned to over $300 billion, yet activity has dropped sharply. It reflects capital waiting, with no clear consensus on what comes next. Meanwhile, institutions are building a parallel track. Tokenized Treasurys are now being used as collateral on exchanges, linking traditional finance and crypto markets more tightly than ever. This weeks Crypto Biz delves into a market pulling in different directions. Bernstein sees IREN pivoting from Bitcoin mining to a $3.7B AI cloud business Analysts at Bernstein are reframing the story around IREN, arguing the companys future may depend less on Bitcoin (BTC) mining and more on building out AI-focused data center capacity. In a new report, Bernstein highlights IRENs access to large-scale energy infrastructure as a key advantage, positioning it to support high-performance computing workloads tied to artificial intelligence. IRENs AI cloud segment