Bitcoin miners Riot Platforms and Iren rallied Wednesday while Cipher Mining reversed from an early climb after an analyst initiated coverage on the shares.
Arete on Wednesday launched coverage of Riot Platforms, Iren and Cipher Mining with buy ratings for all three of the bitcoin miners, The Fly reported. As with other recent analyst reports, Arete noted that demand for artificial intelligence computing provides long-term opportunities for the companies.
Arete sees Iren benefiting from its mining fleet upgrades and through its self-funding of data center construction. Riot could reach $2.3 billion in recurring earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) by 2031, the researcher estimates, driven by two high-performance compute (HPC) data centers on a co-location rental model. Cipher, meanwhile, offers a lower-risk play on AI compute storage given its joint venture structure, the firm wrote.
Arete has a 78 price target on Iren, a 26 target for Riot and a 24 price target for Cipher.
Iren on Monday announced that it had doubled its AI cloud capacity, after procuring an additional 12,400 graphics processing units. The bitcoin miner during its August earnings announced that it had been named an "Nvidia preferred partner."
Cipher Mining has soared since its early August announcement about its Phase II build out for its Black Pearl site in Texas, which will host AI computing power and hydropowered bitcoin mining.
"In the long run, we expect this site to be fully leased by HPC tenants," CEO Tyler Page said in the Q2 earnings release. "We're well equipped to become a leading developer of HPC data centers, while continuing to set the standard in bitcoin mining."
Riot, Iren Lead Bitcoin Mining Gains
RIOT stock soared more than 15% early Wednesday, but pared its gains on the day to 5.4%. Shares are extended from a cup-base breakout on Sept. 10 and trading at their highest level since August 2023.
Riot stock has vaulted 76% so far this year.
IREN stock popped nearly 13% Wednesday, extending its record highs and adding to its 380% gain this year.
CIFR stock reversed from an early surge to tick down a fraction, which ended its streak of three consecutive daily advances. Cipher Mining is trading at four-year highs, and approaching its record high of 15.36. Shares have rallied about 205% in 2025.
The price of bitcoin on Wednesday climbed above $113,500. The world's top crypto is still down almost 2% over the past week.
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