In the week of July 20, 2026, Hut 8, which holds the dual identity of a Bitcoin mining company and an AI infrastructure developer, announced a contract that could rewrite the company narrative: a lease agreement for the second phase of the Beacon Point Park AI data center with the same investment-grade lessee, valued at approximately $9.8 billion and lasting 15 years. This agreement adds about 352 megawatts of Nvidia architecture AI computing power, raising the total signed computing power to about 704 megawatts, just shy of the park's overall planning goal of 1 gigawatt. Reportedly, on the day the news was announced, Hut 8's stock price surged over 14% at one point during trading, as the market began to more clearly view it as a composite asset simultaneously exposed to Bitcoin prices and AI computing power demand, much like similar mining companies. However, while traditional capital was inflating the price for "AI infrastructure leaders," veteran trader Peter Brandt offered a starkly different perspective: he expects the current Bitcoin market cycle to bottom out around October 4, 2026, and publicly stated that investment returns from Bitcoin in the next two to three years may outperform those from AI stocks. On the blockchain side, analyst Ai Yi monitored the whale address "set 10 major targets," noting that all four transactions since June 25 have been long Bitcoin positions, while simultaneously taking a bearish stance on US AI and tech stocks, anticipating a new round of increases for BTC and a substantial correction for related US stocks. In the time window where Hut 8 tightly embraces AI, the configuration divergence of "Bitcoin vs. AI stocks" has already become clear on-chain and in the secondary market.
$9.8 billion long-term lease secured for AI clients at Hut 8 park
At the same time as the on-chain whales were doubling down on Bitcoin, Hut 8 locked in a contract in the physical world that is almost written with the future. In the week of July 20, 2026, the company announced it had signed a lease agreement for the second phase of the Beacon Point Park AI data center with the same investment-grade lessee, with a total contract value of approximately $9.8 billion and a duration of 15 years, essentially selling an entire generation of hardware iteration cycles to the same buyer. The newly added approximately 352 megawatts of Nvidia architecture AI computing power stacks on top of existing contracts, bringing Beacon Point's total signed computing power to about 704 megawatts, accounting for the vast majority of the park's planned capacity of roughly 1 gigawatt. A park that originally belonged to Bitcoin miners is now almost fully "reserved" on paper by AI clients.
More importantly, this is the same investment-grade customer signing consecutively in the same park, effectively providing long-term credit endorsement for Hut 8's AI transformation with real money, conveying a rigid expectation for the AI computing power consumption curve over the next decade. Hut 8 stands at the intersection of cycles as both a mining company and an AI infrastructure provider. On the day the news was announced, reports from a single source indicated its stock price surged over 14% during trading, as the capital market chose to raise prices for this type of locked ultra-long-term rental AI infrastructure asset, indicating that in the "Bitcoin vs. AI stocks" game, traditional capital is still willing to quickly offer premiums in the face of computing power parks that can be converted into sustained cash flow.
Behind the AI computing power feast: Bitcoin miners' transformation and dual-line revenue
For mining companies like Hut 8, entering AI is not starting from scratch, but rather rearranging the electricity, land, and data centers prepared for Bitcoin mining over the years. The overall planning of the Beacon Point Park is about 1 gigawatt of computing power, and approximately 704 megawatts have already been secured in contracts, including the newly added 352 megawatts of Nvidia architecture AI computing power, which means that the electricity and space originally available for traditional computing power are now locked in as dedicated racks and GPU clusters for AI. The mining company attempts to convey a "dual-line revenue" story: one line continues to be exposed to the price and cyclical fluctuations of Bitcoin, while the other line, through a 15-year, approximately $9.8 billion ultra-long-term lease, turns data center cash flow into quasi-utility assets, allowing stock prices to follow Bitcoin price sentiment while enjoying the valuation re-pricing brought by AI demand.
However, dual-line revenue does not come without cost. The ultra-long-term AI contract locks up a significant amount of Hut 8's electricity and data center resources, spanning multiple Bitcoin cycles. While this improves cash flow visibility, it also weakens the company's sensitivity for flexibly adjusting mining computing power during extreme phases of the Bitcoin market; when Bitcoin prices experience sharp ups or downs, park capacity occupied by contracts is difficult to quickly revert to the mining side. A more immediate pressure comes from capital expenditures and technological iterations: high-end GPUs and servers built on Nvidia architecture require substantial upfront investments, and the 15-year span far exceeds the lifecycle of any single generation of hardware. Upgrades, process evolution, and cooling solution optimizations will continually test the mining company's asset recovery assumptions; if AI demand, Bitcoin cycles, and equipment depreciation rhythms become misaligned, the dual-line story of these transforming mining companies may transition from a high-valued "composite asset" to a compromise choice with heavier asset burdens and worse cyclical elasticity.
Peter Brandt: Bitcoin outperforms AI stocks?
Just as Hut 8 wagers its hardware and electricity costs for the next fifteen years on AI computing power, veteran trader Peter Brandt assigns a notably different timeline to the current Bitcoin cycle. Brandt has long monitored the trends of commodities and Bitcoin; he provides a singular judgment: this Bitcoin cycle will not bottom out until around October 4, 2026, and in the next two to three years, the investment returns from Bitcoin are very likely to outperform a basket of AI-themed stocks. This statement comes around the time Hut 8 announced its long-term lease, interpreted by many participants as a public "positioning" — implying that the expectations for AI stocks have already been overdrawn, while Bitcoin, at its current valuation and cycle position, provides better cost-performance.
When seasoned traders like Brandt speak, it strengthens an emerging market narrative: in the tug-of-war between "Bitcoin vs. AI stocks," the latter may have become too expensive to be secure, while the former has become a more rational risk-reward choice. However, this timeline precision down to specific dates is fundamentally just one person's perspective and model output; the overall market view clearly has not reached a consensus, and there remains high uncertainty regarding the relative performance of the AI sector and Bitcoin in the next two to three years. In this divergence and uncertainty, whether Bitcoin can indeed outperform AI stocks in the next couple of years remains a hypothesis pending market verification.
On-chain whales position: Long Bitcoin, short US AI stocks
While Brandt annotates the timeline on paper, some have already offered their own betting methods on-chain. Whale addresses tracked by on-chain analyst Ai Yi, labeled "set 10 major targets," have been active since June 25, 2026. According to AiCoin data, this address has completed four transactions to date, all long Bitcoin positions without any reduction or hedging records, presenting a distinctly bullish overall position structure. Further materials indicate that this major player is not just betting on the next round of BTC increases but is comparing it against US AI and tech stocks, bullish on Bitcoin and bearish on US AI/tech stocks, anticipating the former will start a new round of increases while the latter may experience a significant correction, echoing Brandt's judgment that "Bitcoin will outperform AI stocks in the next two to three years."
If Hut 8 represents an attempt to simultaneously embrace Bitcoin and AI computing power as a composite exposure, then the whale dubbed "set 10 major targets" provides a simpler and more direct configuration choice on-chain: want Bitcoin, not AI stocks. This method of positioning serves as a clear signal for readers: at least from the perspective of individual major players, Bitcoin and US AI/tech stocks have been placed on the same weighing table. However, at this stage, what we can observe is just the preferences and position adjustments of this single address, and we cannot see broader fund synchronization following evidence on-chain; this "whale barometer" still reflects the individual major player’s balance between Bitcoin and AI stocks, rather than a collective market decision.
Investment choices: How to weigh between Bitcoin and AI stories
Viewing Hut 8's $9.8 billion, 15-year AI long-term lease, Peter Brandt's cycle assessment, and the continual long Bitcoin position from the "set 10 major targets" whale address on-chain while being bearish on US AI/tech stocks together presents investors with a clear configuration game table: on one side are BTC positions directly exposed to Bitcoin prices and on-chain cycles, and on the other side are mining stocks combining sensitivity to coin prices and elasticity of AI computing power demand. Further extending out are pure bets on the commercialization of computing power and the fulfillment of corporate orders in AI concept stocks. For cryptocurrency investors, Bitcoin offers a purer cyclical regression and macro narrative risk, while mining stocks must also endure pressure from profit structure adjustments during downturns in coin prices, and AI stocks heavily depend on whether the computing power demand behind long-term contracts like Hut 8 can continue to deliver in the coming years. Standing near the timeline of July 20, 2026, with quite a distance from the October 4 cycle bottom projected by Brandt, key variables to track include the real utilization rate and renewal willingness of AI clients for the 704 megawatts of signed computing power, whether Bitcoin prices will complete the expected downward move and repair, and whether more mining companies will structurally tilt towards AI computing power or even weaken their mining exposure. In such a highly competitive narrative and highly uncertain outcome environment, dynamic allocations spread across Bitcoin, mining companies, and a few AI targets, along with continuous assessments of the fulfillment degree and credibility of various narratives, might be the more rational investment approach at present.
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