AI data center and cloud firm Crusoe has sold its Bitcoin operations to NYDIG, completing its pivot away from crypto.
The two companies this week announced that NYDIG plans to acquire Crusoe’s Bitcoin mining operation, which includes Crusoe’s Digital Flare Mitigation business. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Crusoe was founded in 2018 and originally placed cryptomining facilities along oil & gas pipelines, using natural gas that would have otherwise been burned off to mine Bitcoin. The company said burning the gas more efficiently was better for the environment than flaring.
To date, Crusoe said it has deployed more than 425 modular data centers totaling more than 250MW across seven states in the US (Colorado, North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, New Mexico, Utah, and Texas) and Argentina.
NYDIG will take over the crypto operations, along with more than 270MW of power generation technology. Approximately 135 Crusoe employees will join NYDIG.
Crusoe later launched its own AI cloud service, taking space in several colocation data centers, before moving into building its own permanent facilities.
"Crusoe is proud to have been a pioneer in repurposing otherwise wasted energy resources such as gas flaring to power the Bitcoin network. Our innovative approach to energy utilized for mining is uniquely complementary to NYDIG's Bitcoin custody, institutional trading, and mining businesses, creating a consolidated business that is more valuable than the sum of its parts," Chase Lochmiller, CEO and co-founder of Crusoe said. "We will continue to channel the same energy-first mentality towards scaling AI infrastructure and accelerating the adoption and proliferation of AI in our everyday lives."
Founded in 2017 and an affiliate of asset management firm Stone Ridge Holdings Group, NYDIG has an existing Bitcoin mining business and offers crypto-focused financial services. The Stone Ridge Energy franchise owns and operates more than 10GW of natural gas production in the US.
“Our partnership with Crusoe was founded on a shared cultural alignment and mutual commitment to driving advancements at the intersection of power and compute,” said Tejas Shah, CEO of NYDIG. “Crusoe has built an extraordinary Bitcoin mining business by demonstrating remarkable innovation—bringing together the industry’s top talent to solve complex challenges and unlock untapped energy sources. We’re incredibly excited to integrate this world-class team and their capabilities into our growing business.”
Crusoe is developing a large data center campus in Texas alongside Oracle for OpenAI’s Stargate project. It also previously formed a $5bn joint venture with Chirisa and PowerHouse to develop data centers across the US – mostly for AI cloud firm CoreWeave.
For its cloud offering, the company has taken space in atNorth's ICE02 data center in Iceland. Crusoe has also partnered with Digital Realty.
