Bitcoin Miner CleanSpark to Buy Peer GRIID in $155M Deal

Bitcoin mining deal-making continues to ramp up, as CleanSpark (CLSK) has agreed to buy peer GRIID Infrastructure (GRDI) in an all-stock deal valued at $155M.

The purchase will see CleanSpark assuming all debt and other obligations of GRIID and provide a $5 million loan as a pay-down bridge loan of approximately $50.9 million, according to a statement on Thursday.

“This acquisition would give us a clear and steady path over the next three years to accomplish in Tennessee what we proudly achieved in Georgia over the past three years,” said CleanSpark’s CEO Zach Bradford. “That achievement was to build out over 400 MW of infrastructure backed by valuable, long-term power contracts.”

Shares of GRIID slumped more than 50% following the announcement, while CleanSpark’s rose nearly 4%, implying traders are likely seeing the deal as a fire sale.

The news comes as bitcoin mining mergers and acquisitions (M&A) have been heating up following the recent halving event which made the already competitive industry even more so. Recently, Riot Platforms (RIOT) and Bitfarms (BITF) have been battling it out in a hostile takeover attempt, while Core Scientific (CORZ) is also in play to be acquired by a cloud computing company.

This deal is expected to close in the third quarter, and CleanSpark anticipates exceeding 100MW capacity in Tennessee by year-end and eventually grow that to 200MW next year and more than 400MW in 2026, according to the statement.

The companies have also entered in to a hosting agreement where 20 megawatt (MW) worth of power capacity will be allocated to CleanSpark.

GRIID was founded in 2018 and listed on the Nasdaq earlier this year after several delays due to the brutal crypto winter. The miner currently has mining facilities in Watertown, New York; Limestone, Maynardville and Lenoir City, Tennessee.

Read more: Bitcoin Mining Sector Is Attracting Growing Investor Interest Following Core Scientific Deal: JPMorgan