Credit guarantees tied to Google are reshaping bitcoin miners into AI data center hosts, unlocking bank financing and altering crypto and AI power dynamics.
Google has quietly emerged as a central financial force behind a sweeping transformation in the U.S. bitcoin mining industry, backing billions of dollars in projects that repurpose mining sites into artificial intelligence data centers.
The Alphabet-owned technology giant, rather than buying mining companies outright, is using a credit-based structure that has provided at least $5 billion in disclosed financial backing to support AI infrastructure built on former bitcoin mining campuses, according to company filings and market disclosures.
The arrangements, often described publicly as technology partnerships, function more like credit enhancement. Google stands behind long-term lease obligations tied to AI data center capacity, allowing commercial banks to finance projects that would otherwise be treated as high-risk crypto ventures.
Under the model, bitcoin miners contribute energized land, power connections, and partially built facilities. Fluidstack, a data center operator, signs long-term leases for AI computing capacity at those sites. Google then guarantees portions of Fluidstack’s lease payments, effectively reducing risk for lenders and enabling the projects to be financed as infrastructure debt.
The approach has already reshaped several major miners.
At its Lake Mariner site in New York, TeraWulf expanded its AI hosting plans after securing increased backing tied to Google, raising total contracted capacity above 360 megawatts. Company disclosures value the contracts at up to $16 billion over time, with Google-linked guarantees rising to about $3.2 billion. The structure also granted Google warrants equivalent to roughly a 14% stake.
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Cipher Mining followed a similar path at its Texas facility, securing a 10-year AI hosting deal valued at about $3 billion. Google-backed guarantees cover roughly $1.4 billion of lease obligations, in exchange for warrants representing about 5.4% equity.
In December 2025, Hut 8 announced a 15-year, $7 billion AI lease in Louisiana. JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs are structuring the financing, which the company said depended on Google’s financial support of the lease.
The shift reflects pressure on bitcoin mining economics. Industry data show production costs now rival or exceed bitcoin’s market price, pushing miners to seek steadier income. Long-term AI leases offer predictable cash flows that banks are willing to finance.
For Google, the strategy secures future access to power and computing capacity without directly owning the facilities, while preserving upside through equity warrants.
The structure carries risks. Miners must meet stricter reliability standards demanded by AI customers, and the financial chain depends heavily on Fluidstack and Google’s long-term commitments.
Regulators may also take interest. By controlling access to large volumes of AI-ready power through financial guarantees, Google could influence who builds and operates large-scale computing infrastructure, raising potential competition concerns.
For bitcoin, the trade-off is stark: power redirected to AI is power no longer securing the network, potentially reshaping the industry’s long-term balance.
