Crypto Lender Celsius Confirms $54M Investment in Miner Core Scientific

Crypto lender Celsius confirmed Friday it invested $54 million in bitcoin miner Core Scientific.

The funding is part of Celsius' planned $200 million investment in bitcoin mining in North America, according to the company. Celsius said the investment, which occurred during the second quarter, would make it one of the largest U.S. investors in the bitcoin mining industry.

Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky described the deal with Core in a CoinDesk interview as "good for our community." He added: "They have a lot of assets. That's safer than just investing in a [decentralized finance] project."

Core Scientific is the largest host of bitcoin mining machines in North America.

The announcement comes just two days after Core Scientific said that it planned to list its shares on Nasdaq through a merger with Power & Digital Infrastructure Acquisition. The miner will have a value of $4.3 billion.

In May, Michael Levitt, the co-founder and chairman of Core Scientific, took over as CEO after Kevin Turner stepped down.

Mashinsky sees these developments positively, noting that the merger would allow Core "to raise even more money."

"Companies go through changes all the time," he said.

He also highlighted Core's carbon-neutral infrastructure. Mashinsky said that last month, Celsius had joined the Bitcoin Mining Council, the voluntary organization of miners and high-profile members of the Bitcoin community concerned about mining's environmental impact.

In the company's statement, Mashinsky said that Celsius was "looking forward to working together to grow our joint business in the future."

UPDATE (July 23, 20:36 UTC): Adds comments from Mashinsky and details of Celsius membership in the Bitcoin Mining Council.