Crypto Treasury Firms Abandon Ship as AI Boom Beckons

Digital asset treasury (DAT) firms are pivoting towards artificial intelligence as their share prices plummet due to crypto losses. At least a dozen DAT companies have shifted into AI-related ventures in recent months, but early results have been bleak.

K Wave Media, which previously focused on accumulating Bitcoin, has fallen 71% since turning toward data center development in May. Lixte Biotechnology has lost 33% since agreeing to merge with a battery company in June. Alphaton Capital, once a holder of alternative cryptocurrencies, is down 33% since rebranding as Alpha Compute in April.

The collapse of the crypto treasury trade is pushing struggling public companies toward AI. Industry observers reckon that most DAT firms are either moving into AI or dying a slow death. Bloomberg tracked U.S. and Canadian treasury stocks, which have posted a median decline of 43% this year.

Bitcoin miners may have a more credible path into AI, as their power contracts, land, and data centers can often be adapted for high-performance computing. Coreweave began as a miner before becoming a cloud-computing provider and now has a market value of about $40 billion.