SWI Group Raises €800 Million to Turn Ex-FTX-Backed Bitcoin Miner Genesis Digital Into AI Data Centers
Amsterdam-listed SWI Group said on Oct. 12 it raised €800 million at a €6.1 billion valuation to convert the US and Swedish sites of Genesis Digital Assets, a former FTX-backed bitcoin miner it controls, to AI workloads and sell its Kazakhstan sites. SWI says Genesis has over 1.3 GW of grid connections. No hyperscaler contract or conversion timeline has been disclosed.
A bitcoin miner's most valuable asset is now its power connections, not its mining machines, CoinDesk writes, and SWI Group has raised money on that premise. The Amsterdam-listed investment firm said on Monday, October 12, it raised €800 million from institutional investors in a capital increase valuing it at €6.1 billion, CoinDesk reports. CoinDesk puts the raise at $894 million.
The plan
SWI will repurpose the US and Swedish facilities of Genesis Digital Assets, the former FTX-backed bitcoin miner it now controls and has renamed SWI Digital, for AI workloads, and sell the unit's Kazakhstan sites, according to CoinDesk. CEO Max-Hervé George told the Wall Street Journal he has "zero interest" in bitcoin mining, CoinDesk reports.
Cryptonews says SWI is marketing Genesis sites in Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina and Sweden to hyperscale cloud providers, and that the company says Genesis has more than 1.3 gigawatts of energized and approved grid connections across 15 facilities, or more than 3.6 GW combined with SWI's European platform, AiOnX.
SWI bought about 40% of Genesis for $500 million in June and completed the acquisition in August with 70% of the voting rights, CoinDesk says. Alameda Research had invested more than $1 billion in Genesis from 2021, according to the WSJ as cited by CoinDesk.
What is missing
The announcement gives no conversion timeline and confirms no signed hyperscaler deal or live AI capacity, Cryptonews notes. That sets SWI apart from miners that already have AI tenants, such as TeraWulf, whose 20-year Anthropic lease we covered in July.
Limits
- We did not locate SWI's own press release; figures come from CoinDesk and Cryptonews, and the grid-capacity numbers are SWI's claims as Cryptonews reports them.
- The WSJ interview was read only as CoinDesk quotes it.