Bitcoin mining company NYDIG is already in the game on the New York Massena site. It holds a stake in Coinmint, which operates mining hardware there under a long-term lease. Now the company wants the land itself.
Years of trading in progress
Alcoa’s Massena East smelter was shut down in 2014 after rising energy costs and shrinking margins for overseas competitors. The facility, which stretches along the St. Lawrence River, has remained idle ever since.
According to the report, Alcoa CEO Bill Oplinger told Bloomberg that the two companies are in close negotiations and that he expects the deal to close around mid-2026. Financial terms were not disclosed.
NYDIG’s appeal goes beyond its location. Industrial smelters are wired for heavy duty work 24 hours a day. It comes with substations, transmission lines and grid connections that can handle huge power loads.
Source: Crunchbase
Data center operators and cryptocurrency miners often wait years to build this kind of infrastructure from scratch. It already exists in Massena. The site also draws its power from the New York Power Authority’s hydroelectric power supply, saving money and reducing the carbon footprint of whatever runs next.
Existing industries, new tenants
Massena is not the only closed smelter attracting attention from the digital sector. Earlier this year, Century Aluminum sold its Hawesville, Kentucky facility to TeraWulf for $200 million.
TeraWulf plans to transform the site into a high-performance computing and AI campus. TeraWulf shares are up 80% year to date since the deal was completed, according to Yahoo Finance data.
BTCUSD trading at $75,841. Chart: TradingView
The pattern is clear. Retired heavy industrial sites, long considered liabilities, are quickly being acquired by companies needing power and space. These properties offer what new construction cannot: infrastructure that is already approved, connected, and built.
NYDIG invests heavily in Bitcoin
While many miners are turning to AI and cloud services to offset declining revenues, NYDIG is doubling down on Bitcoin.
Last year, the Stone Ridge-owned company acquired Crusoe Energy’s Bitcoin mining operations, including its natural gas flare mitigation operations.
If the Massena deal goes through, it would be another important step in that direction.
Other players in this space are taking a different path. Mara Holdings acquired a 64% stake in French infrastructure company Exaion to advance into AI services. Hive, Hut 8, TeraWulf, and Iren are all converting their mining facilities into data centers.
Currently, NYDIG is charting its own path.
Featured image Romain Costaseca/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images, chart from TradingView
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