SWI Raises €800 Million: US and Swedish Sites of Former FTX-Backed Miner Genesis to Be Repurposed for AI

What happened

SWI Group controls former bitcoin miner Genesis Digital Assets, renamed SWI Digital. SWI announced the purchase of about 40% of Genesis Digital in June for $500 million, completing the acquisition in August with 70% of the voting rights. CoinDesk reported that the capital increase values SWI at €6.1 billion.

Under SWI's plan, Genesis's US and Swedish facilities will be repurposed for AI workloads, while its sites in Kazakhstan will be sold. SWI CEO Max-Hervé George told the Wall Street Journal he had no interest in bitcoin mining.

By way of background, the Wall Street Journal reported that FTX's trading firm Alameda Research invested more than $1 billion in Genesis Digital Assets from 2021 and owned about 20% of the miner; FTX filed for bankruptcy in November 2022. CoinDesk said bitcoin miners have signed more than $70 billion in AI and high-performance computing contracts, with listed miners such as TeraWulf and Core Scientific also converting power access and data-center capacity into AI hosting businesses.

Key facts

1. Raise: €800 million (about $894 million) from institutional investors, valuing the company at €6.1 billion.
2. Facilities: Genesis's US and Swedish sites will be repurposed for AI workloads; its Kazakhstan sites will be sold.
3. Control: SWI bought about 40% of Genesis Digital in June for $500 million, completed the deal in August with 70% of voting rights, and renamed the unit SWI Digital.
4. FTX link: Alameda Research invested more than $1 billion in Genesis from 2021 and owned about 20%, according to the Wall Street Journal.