Bitcoin Miners Surge: Sector Pushes Toward $90B Market Cap

Bitcoin mining equities are seeing heavy gains in pre-market trading, with the collective sector valuation inching toward the $90 billion mark. Companies like IREN and TerraWulf are leading the advance—IREN is up ~4%, TerraWulf ~5%—while Cipher Mining, CleanSpark, and Bitfarms are also rising 2–4%. The rally is being fueled by the broader AI and high-performance computing boom, which is pushing investors to revalue mining firms not just for Bitcoin exposure, but for their potential in compute infrastructure.  

Much of the optimism hinges on the idea that mining firms can capture a larger slice of the AI and HPC market. Microsoft has flagged persistent data center shortages going into 2026, underlining demand for scalable computing capacity. This backdrop gives miners the opportunity to repurpose or augment their energy and infrastructure investments—turning what was purely Bitcoin infrastructure into dual-use compute real estate. 

Still, the ride is volatile. The sector’s valuation is highly sensitive to Bitcoin’s price swings, regulatory shifts, energy costs, and the pace of deployment. Pushing past $90B—and possibly toward $100B—will require miners to deliver on execution, not just sentiment. Investors will be closely watching production metrics, balance sheet strength, and how well these companies manage diversification into AI workloads without undermining their core Bitcoin business.