Genesis Digital Assets, the Bitcoin-mining business that attracted about $1.15 billion from Sam Bankman-Fried’s Alameda Research, has a new owner pursuing a very different payoff. SWI Group wants the sites’ power connections and land for artificial-intelligence computing, while its founder says he has no interest in continuing the mining business.
The strategy gained fresh financial backing on October 12, when the Singapore-incorporated, Amsterdam-listed group announced an €800 million capital increase from institutional investors. That takes the equity it has raised since March above €1 billion, funding a transatlantic expansion centred on data centres, power infrastructure and computing capacity.
The old Bitcoin bet becomes an AI infrastructure deal
Founder and chief executive Max-Hervé George told the Wall Street Journal he had “zero interest” in Bitcoin mining. Its October 12 report says the company plans to market Genesis Digital facilities in Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina and Sweden to hyperscale cloud providers, while selling its last three small mining sites in Kazakhstan.
The appeal lies in electricity access rather than a bullish bet on Bitcoin. A site with grid connections and development rights can offer a starting point for computing infrastructure, even when the business originally occupying it was built to mine cryptocurrency.
In today’s capital-raising announcement, George explained the funding push:
This transaction is about keeping up to speed with the compute and data center markets. We have a clear strategy, a substantial pipeline and a strong position across Europe and the United States. We are very pleased to welcome new investors who share our long-term ambition for the Group.
The transaction issues new ordinary shares, bringing the total to 558,399,385. It provides equity for investment and increases the free float to approximately 20%; it is not an announcement that all the planned AI capacity is already operating.
A new owner, not a new deal this morning
The acquisition began months before the latest funding round. On June 15, the group announced a $500 million purchase representing approximately 38.3% of Genesis Digital’s total shareholding, alongside substantial preferred-share rights.
An August 25 statement subsequently confirmed control of more than 70%, secured through acquisitions and restructuring. The business was to be renamed SWI Digital. That establishes the ownership change without treating today’s capital increase as the original takeover.
The $1 billion in the headline refers to the former FTX-linked investment. Alameda’s approximately $1.15 billion commitment brought it a roughly 20% stake, according to the Journal’s account. Those historical terms and the new owner’s purchase involve different holdings and rights, so their dollar amounts do not establish a simple like-for-like discount.
Power is valuable, but conversion still has to work
At the June acquisition announcement, Genesis Digital’s portfolio included 1.3 gigawatts of energized and approved grid connections across 15 facilities. That description combines different stages of readiness; it should not be read as 1.3 gigawatts of running AI computers.
George’s explanation then was explicit:
Power connectivity is the most valuable commodity in digital infrastructure today, and converting legacy cryptocurrency mining infrastructure to AI and high-performance computing is the best and highest use of these assets.
The group joined Nvidia’s Cloud Partner programme in August. Its stated capabilities span computing, networking and enterprise software, extending the plan beyond owning land. Membership does not, however, prove that every acquired mining facility has been converted or leased.
As previously reported by Apex, enormous AI hardware purchases are driving fresh financing requirements. This transaction approaches the same build-out from the infrastructure side: secure the sites and power, then develop the computing business.
The outcome now depends on deployment and customers. The former crypto investment has found another commercial purpose, but the new owner still has to turn an electricity-heavy portfolio into infrastructure that AI users will actually pay to occupy.