NEW YORK, May 20, 2026, 12:09 EDT
- CleanSpark shares were up roughly 7.4% at midday, stronger than bitcoin and other listed mining stocks.
- CleanSpark put Ruben Sahakyan, an ex-KBW and Stifel banker, in as senior vice president of finance. He takes charge of capital markets, planning and M&A work.
- Bernstein says bitcoin miners might see a boost from AI data-center demand thanks to their control of limited power capacity.
CleanSpark shares were higher Wednesday as the bitcoin miner pushed to rebrand as an AI infrastructure firm. The move drew investor interest after the company named a new senior finance executive, with shares also benefiting from gains in other mining stocks focused on power.
Shares were at $15.77 as of 11:54 a.m. in New York, rising 7.4% from Tuesday’s finish after reaching $16.34 earlier. Bitcoin climbed 1.3% to trade near $77,434. MARA Holdings, Riot Platforms and IREN moved higher as well.
CleanSpark isn’t just about bitcoin mining for investors now. The question is whether miners holding big power portfolios can shift that capacity to AI and high-performance computing, or HPC, the heavy processing work tied to data tasks and artificial intelligence. Investors are trying to work out if selling or leasing power to those markets makes sense.
CleanSpark named Sahakyan as its new senior vice president of finance. The company said he came over from Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, a Stifel unit, where he was managing director and co-head of digital assets and infrastructure investment banking. Sahakyan will handle capital markets, lead financial planning and analysis, and help with firm-wide M&A, CleanSpark said.
CleanSpark brought in Sahakyan, who CleanSpark says has worked on over $20 billion worth of deals in digital assets, infrastructure and fintech. “Exactly the kind of leader we want,” said Gary Vecchiarelli, the company’s president and CFO, pointing to Sahakyan’s experience with capital markets and M&A. PR Newswire
Bernstein analysts, led by Gautam Chhugani, gave Outperform ratings to four bitcoin miners, pointing to over $90 billion in AI deals and a combined 3.7 gigawatts of power capacity. The day before, they set a $24 price target for CleanSpark. Bernstein said miners now control more than 27 gigawatts of planned power capacity, Benzinga reported.
CleanSpark CEO Matt Schultz told investors on the company’s May 11 earnings call, “Power and infrastructure are at the heart of the supply squeeze.” CleanSpark said its contracted capacity totals 1.8 gigawatts and it’s looking to commercialize some assets for AI and HPC. The Motley Fool
CleanSpark’s pivot is still running on money from its legacy mining unit. Vecchiarelli told investors mining is still core to the business and said, “Mining funds the platform; AI monetizes it.” Hashrate—how much computing power CleanSpark uses to mine bitcoin—remains one of its main metrics, even as it tries to bring in more data-center tenants. The Motley Fool
CleanSpark’s quarter failed to impress Wall Street. Revenue for the three months to March 31 dropped 24.9% to $136.4 million. Net loss ballooned to $378.3 million, or $1.52 per share, from $138.8 million a year ago.
CleanSpark had $260.3 million in cash at the end of March, with $925.2 million in bitcoin and $1.0 billion in working capital. The company also said it doubled its contracted megawatts from a year earlier, including 585 megawatts of ERCOT-approved power.
The trade can turn fast. CleanSpark warned it faces swings in the bitcoin price, tougher mining, power limits, regulation, tariffs, integration risk and its short track record in new AI and HPC markets. All could weigh on results or slow the plan. That’s the tough part of the rerating: investors pay now for power assets that still need to be financed, permitted, built and then sold into a crowded data-center space.
