Bitcoin miner Bitfury started up in 2011, but has now pivoted to tech investing and will pour $1 billion into ethical AI and crypto startups.
Bitfury is the latest Bitcoin miner to pivot away from the mining sector, announcing it will become an investment firm focused on “ethical emerging technologies,” including artificial intelligence and crypto.
Bitfury said on Tuesday that it would pour $1 billion into AI and crypto startups as early as the fourth quarter of 2025, with the funds coming from its previous operations, successful investments, and a network of investors.
“Our mission is to close the gap between innovation and ethics by acting as a catalyst for founders and investors building technologies that serve people and promote long-term resilience,” said Bitfury CEO Val Vavilov.
Bitfury was one of the first companies to start mining Bitcoin (BTC) in 2011 and had spun out the NASDAQ-listed Cipher Mining (CIFR) and Hut 8 (HUT), currently the 2nd and 7th largest Bitcoin miners by market cap.
Many Bitcoin miners have been fully or partially pulling away from the industry as the cost and difficulty of mining crypto have increased, with some, such as Bitfarms, converting their sites to power AI.
Bitfury CEO still sees crypto playing a big role in society
Bitfury told Fortune that it would focus on AI, quantum computing, and “transparent decentralized systems.”
”AI is taking over,” Vavilov said when asked why the company will focus on those technologies. “We see the big synergy between AI and decentralized systems.”
Bitfury has hands-on experience in AI, having built an immersion-cooling solution, LiquidStack, to cool AI data centers, while also co-founding Netherlands-based chip company Axelera AI.
Related: Institutions lean into crypto despite Bitcoin price slump
Vavilov’s added that self-sovereign identity solutions enabled through cryptography are another area of focus for the company.
Crypto miner stock slides with Bitcoin
Profitability margins in the Bitcoin mining sector continue to be squeezed amid a 52% rise in Bitcoin mining difficulty over the last 12 months and a 26.2% fall in Bitcoin’s price from its $126,080 set on Oct. 6
The headwinds have resulted in the stock prices of 20 of the 22 largest Bitcoin mining companies by market cap falling over the last month.
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