Bitcoin Miners IREN, Cipher Surge 300% in 2025 Fueled by AI Investment Boom

A seismic shift is underway in the financial markets, where artificial intelligence investment is not just reshaping tech but is also turbocharging an unlikely sector: Bitcoin mining. In a remarkable divergence from the performance of the underlying asset, leading publicly traded Bitcoin miners have posted astronomical gains in 2025, driven not solely by cryptocurrency prices but by their strategic pivot to powering the AI revolution. According to a Bank of America global research outlook, this trend is a central feature of a broader economic transition, one that could have lasting implications for digital infrastructure and the crypto ecosystem.

As of December 2025, Bitcoin miners like IREN (IREN) and Cipher Mining (CIFR) have seen their valuations skyrocket, with IREN up 337.15% year-to-date and Cipher Mining trading nearly 300% higher. Another miner, TeraWulf (WULF), has gained 190% over the same period. These surges are particularly notable because they have occurred even as Bitcoin (BTC) has "failed to convincingly break out this year, continuing to trade around the $90,000 area." The catalyst? A booming market for high-performance computing, where these firms are leveraging their core assets—large-scale, power-secure data centers—to serve the insatiable demand from artificial intelligence companies.

The Macro Backdrop: AI as the Global Growth Engine

The staggering performance of these mining stocks is not occurring in a vacuum. It is directly linked to a larger macroeconomic narrative detailed in Bank of America’s 2026 market outlook. The bank’s global research team projects that U.S. GDP will grow 2.4% year-over-year by the end of 2026, a figure above consensus, driven by business investment, fiscal stimulus, and recent rate cuts. Similarly, China’s growth is forecast at 4.7% for 2026 and 4.5% in 2027.

The dominant force underpinning this optimistic forecast is artificial intelligence. Candace Browning, head of BofA Global Research, stated, “We are optimistic on the two most influential economies,” adding that “Concerns about an imminent AI bubble are overstated.” The report posits that AI-related capital investment is set to expand further in the coming year, potentially kickstarting a new investment cycle. This environment has catalyzed a market shift "from a consumption-led recovery to one driven by capital expenditure, infrastructure, and productivity."

For Bitcoin mining companies, this macro shift has presented a unique and timely opportunity. Their business model, which requires securing massive amounts of electricity and building robust data center infrastructure for energy-intensive proof-of-work computations, is directly transferable to another computationally heavy field: AI model training and inference.

From Hash Rate to Compute Power: The Miner Pivot

The core thesis behind the miner rally is a fundamental repurposing of assets. Bitcoin mining operations are, at their heart, large-scale data center businesses with expertise in managing extreme power loads and securing low-cost electricity contracts. With the AI boom creating unprecedented demand for GPU clusters—which are also power-hungry—these firms found themselves sitting on incredibly valuable real estate.

Several publicly traded mining firms reported increased revenue this year not just from mining, but from leasing out data center capacity to AI companies in need of power-hungry GPUs. This diversification creates a dual-revenue stream: income from block rewards and transaction fees from Bitcoin mining, coupled with stable, contracted revenue from providing high-performance compute (HPC) services.

This strategic pivot mitigates two key risks inherent to pure-play Bitcoin mining:

1. Bitcoin Price Volatility: Revenue becomes less tied to the often-volatile price of BTC.
2. Halving Cycles: The periodic reduction in block subsidies places constant pressure on operational efficiency and margins.

By leasing space and power to AI clients, miners can monetize their infrastructure during periods of lower Bitcoin profitability or use the stable income to fund further expansion of their mining operations.

A Comparative Look at the Leading Performers

While multiple miners have benefited from this trend, the scale of gains highlights different market perceptions and operational strategies.

• IREN (IREN): Leading the pack with a 337.15% year-to-date gain, IREN has been particularly aggressive and vocal about its dual-focused strategy on Bitcoin mining and AI cloud services. Its significant appreciation suggests investors are rewarding clear execution and early positioning in the HPC space.
• Cipher Mining (CIFR): Close behind with a surge of nearly 300%, Cipher’s performance indicates a similar successful strategic narrative being embraced by the market.
• TeraWulf (WULF): With a 190% gain, TeraWulf also demonstrates substantial upside, though the relative difference in percentage gain may reflect variations in market cap, specific partnership deals, geographic advantages for power sourcing, or the scale of its committed AI infrastructure.

The contrast between these stocks' performance and Bitcoin's price action around $92,224.34 is stark. It underscores that the market is valuing these companies not as mere proxies for Bitcoin but as differentiated infrastructure plays within the broader tech and compute landscape.

Risks and Volatility on the Horizon

Despite the bullish outlook, Bank of America’s report cautions that this new investment cycle will not be without turbulence. The integration of AI into the global economy is still in its relative infancy, and its full effects are not yet understood.

The bank warns that as investors and policymakers develop a clearer picture of how AI affects inflation, labor markets, and supply chains, "financial markets could experience sharp shifts." Furthermore, the ongoing “K-shaped” recovery—where high-performing sectors like tech soar while others lag—adds complexity. This disconnect could deepen if AI amplifies productivity in tech and finance while leaving slower-moving sectors behind, creating "a two-speed economy that’s harder to manage with traditional tools."

For Bitcoin miners turned AI infrastructure providers, this implies that their newfound valuations are tethered to the broader AI investment thesis. Any macroeconomic shock or sector-wide reassessment of AI profitability could lead to heightened volatility. As seen in a separate market update just hours after the BofA report was highlighted, mining stocks remain susceptible to sharp moves; a note stated that despite a 6% Bitcoin rally lifting crypto ETFs like BlackRock’s IBIT (which hit $3.7B in daily volume), "crypto miners including IREN and CIFR posted steep losses" on that particular day.

Broader Implications for Crypto and Digital Infrastructure

The convergence of Bitcoin mining and AI compute signifies a deeper trend within the crypto industry: the maturation and integration of its foundational infrastructure into the global digital economy. Bank of America’s observation that the growth shift could "ripple beyond traditional equities and into areas like digital infrastructure, blockchain, and data monetization — domains where crypto projects have staked a claim" is particularly prescient.

This phenomenon demonstrates that the value proposition of blockchain extends beyond decentralized finance (DeFi) tokens or non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The physical infrastructure built to secure these networks—characterized by resilience, security, and access to energy—is becoming a critical piece of 21st-century compute capacity.

Emerging markets may find particular opportunity in this new landscape. BofA notes these regions could see stronger performance in 2026, especially if the U.S. dollar weakens. For countries that "skipped legacy infrastructure in favor of digital systems," growing AI demand could create openings for alternative technologies and infrastructure models where crypto-native companies are already active.

Strategic Conclusion: Infrastructure as the New Battleground

The staggering 300% surges for IREN and Cipher Mining in 2025 are more than just isolated stock rallies. They are early indicators of a fundamental repricing of certain crypto-related businesses within a world being rapidly reshaped by artificial intelligence. These companies are successfully navigating a pivot from being viewed as cyclical commodity players (tied to Bitcoin’s price) to being valued as essential utilities in the digital age—providers of scarce, critical infrastructure for both blockchain validation and advanced computation.

For investors and observers within the crypto space, this development suggests several key watchpoints:

1. Diversification Strategies: Monitor how other mining firms articulate and execute their plans for HPC or other infrastructure diversification. The market is clearly rewarding those with a viable dual-path model.
2. Power Economics: The core competitive advantage remains access to low-cost, reliable, and often sustainable power. Companies with superior power agreements will be best positioned in both mining and AI compute.
3. Macro-Tech Synergy: Understand that crypto asset performance may increasingly decouple from the performance of its associated infrastructure stocks, as seen in 2025 with flat BTC prices against soaring miner equities.
4. Sector Volatility: Be prepared for continued volatility. As BofA highlighted, the path toward an AI-driven economy will involve sharp revaluations and sectoral dislocations.

In conclusion, the story of IREN and Cipher’s rise is a powerful case study in adaptive innovation. It reveals how agile players within the crypto ecosystem can leverage their core competencies to capture value from adjacent technological megatrends. While Bitcoin seeks its next catalyst for a price breakout, the industrial base that supports it has already found one in the relentless demand for artificial intelligence compute—setting the stage for a fascinating interplay between crypto and AI that will define much of the coming investment cycle