Bitcoin Miner Core Scientific Investors Nix $9 Billion CoreWeave Merger

Bitcoin miner Core Scientific shareholders have rejected a proposed $9 billion merger with AI computing company CoreWeave, Core Scientific announced on Friday, ending the potentially massive transaction in the high-power computing space. 

Core Scientific shareholders voted against the all-stock deal at a Thursday meeting. 

"Core Scientific, a leader in digital infrastructure for high-density colocation services and digital asset mining, today announced that at a special meeting of Core Scientific stockholders held earlier today, the Company did not receive the requisite number of votes to approve the previously announced merger agreement with CoreWeave," an announcement read. 

Shares of Nasdaq-listed CoreWeave, which focuses on AI cloud-computing, was trading nearly 4% lower Thursday, according to Yahoo Finance. Core Scientific stock rose 0.3% higher. 

Decrypt reached out to Core Scientific for comment. In a statement shared with Decrypt, CoreWeave co-founder and CEO Michael Intrator said the firm respected the views of Core Scientific stockholders and "look[s] forward to continuing our commercial partnership."

The deal, first announced in July, would have given CoreWeave 1.3 gigawatts of gross power across Core Scientific's national data center footprint, with the potential to expand gradually with another 1 GW.

At the time, CoreWeave's Intrator said the deal would help "enhance our performance and expertise as we continue helping customers unleash AI's full potential."

And Core Scientific President and CEO Adam Sullivan said the deal would help the miner "accelerate the availability of world-class infrastructure for companies innovating with AI while delivering the greatest value for our shareholders."

But Core Scientific investors had qualms, believing the deal undervalued the Bitcoin miner. 

Mining Bitcoin has grown increasingly difficult and expensive. The process has also generated smaller rewards since last year's halving cut the Bitcoin earned from 6.250 to 3.125. These trends have hurt profitability, even as Bitcoin's price has risen, prompting miners to look for new revenue sources. 

Miners have often had to sell coins or branch into different industries—like high-performance computing for artificial intelligence—to cover operational costs. 

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But branching out into AI data centers is difficult, requiring more complex heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems than those for Bitcoin mining, experts have told Decrypt.