Bitcoin Slide Meets 5.7% Bond Yields: Neoclouds Get Hit From Both Sides

The former Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC) miners that rebuilt themselves as AI data-center landlords are getting squeezed from two sides Thursday. Bitcoin is sliding again, and long-term borrowing costs keep climbing for a group that funds its buildouts with debt.

Shares of Cipher Digital Inc. (NASDAQ:CIFR), Riot Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:RIOT), CleanSpark Inc. (NASDAQ:CLSK), IREN Ltd. (NASDAQ:IREN), TeraWulf Inc. (NASDAQ:WULF), Nebius Group N.V. (NASDAQ:NBIS) and Applied Digital Corp. (NASDAQ:APLD) all traded lower in the morning session. Most sit roughly 50% or more below their 52-week highs.

Bond Market Bites

The 30-year Treasury yield rose more than 4 basis points to 5.705% Thursday morning after trading just below a 24-year high in the prior session, according to Trading Economics. The 10-year yield touched its highest level since 2002 on Wednesday. 

Minutes from the latest Federal Reserve meeting showed officials expect to raise rates again before year-end, and investors are betting on a hike on Dec. 9. 

Higher yields hurt the neocloud group twice. Debt gets more expensive, and long-dated lease income is worth less in today’s dollars.

The borrowing is real. Blue Owl Capital led a $2.4 billion financing package for an IREN AI campus in Canada, split between a $1.2 billion senior secured term loan and $1.2 billion of senior secured notes to buy Nvidia equipment.