It was a transformational year for bitcoin miners, with a cohort of them plowing significant resources into running artificial intelligence (AI) data centers. None, however, have done it quite like Core Scientific (CORZ), which under CEO Adam Sullivan’s leadership emerged from bankruptcy in January and then proceeded to ink a <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/business/2024/10/23/bitcoin-miners-are-pivoting-to-ai-to-survive-core-scientific-entered-the-race-years-ago" target="_blank">multi-billion dollar</a> megadeal with longtime business partner, AI hyperscaler CoreWeave.

In fact, Sullivan's company was the first miner to move into AI computation on a scale that brought investors' much-needed attention back to the mining industry. Once Core was able to secure the deal and saw its share price explode higher, most of the other miners followed suit, making AI work the new normal for the industry. Investors even began pressuring miners that didn't diversify into AI to do so.

Considering Core's deal and investor sentiment, it would come as no surprise for data-center-hungry private equity or big tech firms to soon make an acquisition offer for Core Scientific and perhaps for other bitcoin miners as well.

This profile is part of CoinDesk's Most Influential 2024 package. For all of this year's nominees, click <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/coindesk-news/2024/12/05/most-influential-2024" target="_blank">here</a>.

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