Crypto-treasury firms pivot to AI as premiums fade

A wave of public companies that built businesses around holding cryptocurrency reserves began announcing AI and data-center plans after token prices and share valuations fell in 2026. Market data show a median decline of 43% for a tracked group of U.S. and Canadian treasury stocks.

At least a dozen publicly traded digital-asset treasury firms said they would pursue AI-related businesses in recent months. The treasury model involved issuing equity to buy tokens and relying on investors to value shares at a premium to those holdings; that premium has largely disappeared as token prices tumbled.

Early results from the pivots have been mixed. K Wave Media’s stock fell about 71% after it announced plans to develop data centers in May. Lixte Biotechnology dropped roughly 33% since it agreed to merge with a battery company in June. Alphaton Capital, which rebranded as Alpha Compute in April after moving away from alternative cryptocurrencies, is down about 33% since the rebrand. Strategy, a firm long known for large bitcoin reserves, is about 81% below its 2024 high and has reduced its bitcoin holdings.

The broader crypto market has put pressure on companies with concentrated token assets. Bitcoin is down about 27% year-to-date in 2026 and roughly 49% from an October 2025 peak. Ether sits about 62% below its August 2025 record, reducing the value of on-balance reserves for many treasury firms.

Some former bitcoin miners have redirected their infrastructure toward AI computing. Miners often control long-term power contracts, land and data-center space that can be adapted for high-performance computing workloads. CoreWeave, which moved from mining to a cloud provider focused on GPU computing, reached a market value near $40 billion and its shares were about 80% higher after a March 2025 initial public offering. Other companies with mining roots, including Hut 8, Iren and Terawulf, have drawn investor attention after shifting capacity to AI tasks.

Industry advisers note that companies without physical infrastructure face a harder path. Daniel Forman, a partner at Lowenstein Sandler, described digital-asset treasury firms as “probably done,” reflecting skepticism about whether rebrands or small AI projects can restore investor confidence.

Executives at treasury firms cite slow token recoveries and a need to diversify revenue as reasons for strategic change. Firms have announced partnerships, rebrands and proposed capital projects, and they must persuade shareholders to revalue their businesses as technology operators or builders rather than as pure crypto reserves.

The digital-asset treasury approach expanded during the crypto bull market, when rising token prices let companies buy and hold large crypto balances using proceeds from share offerings. With token values well below recent peaks, companies are exploring options such as data centers, space ventures and small modular reactors as alternate paths for growth.