Bitfarms Reborn as Keel Bets 2.2 GW of Power on AI Data Centers

Bitfarms, the Quebec hydro-powered Bitcoin miner, formally ceased mining and relaunched as Keel Infrastructure on April 1, 2026, changing its domicile from Canada to the U.S. The company now controls 2.2 gigawatts of power either approved or in final-stage approval — more than the 1.9 GW OpenAI was reportedly marshaling at the close of 2025 — and has raised roughly $900 million to fund the transition, almost $600 million in convertible debt last year plus nearly $300 million from selling its Bitcoin holdings.

CEO Ben Gagnon, 37, began pushing the remake in late 2023, when he was Bitfarms' chief mining officer. The catalyst came in March 2024, when Core Scientific agreed to convert an Austin, Texas mining facility into an AI data center leased to the neocloud CoreWeave. "It was the big aha moment," Gagnon said. "Suddenly, we saw who the right customer was."

What did the Riot takeover battle leave behind?

The pivot unfolded amid corporate warfare. In May 2024, Bitfarms' then-CEO filed a $27 million suit for wrongful termination and breach of contract while still in office. Two days after the board fired him, Riot Platforms launched a hostile $930 million takeover bid at $2.30 a share — 75% below the late-2021 peak. Bitfarms installed a poison pill; Riot responded with a website, "A Better Bitfarms," attacking governance. Gagnon took the helm in July 2024 and brokered a settlement: Riot named a director, the co-founder left the board, and Riot has since sold its shares.

One month into the job, in August 2024, Gagnon agreed to buy Stronghold Digital for $175 million. Stronghold operated on Pennsylvania waste-coal sites that had burned coal refuse for grid power since the 1970s cleanup era. Gagnon, working with utilities and state authorities, secured approval for large new megawatt allocations before closing the deal.

Why is power the chokepoint?

Industry leaders frame the constraint in physical terms. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said: "The bottleneck for AI isn't code, it's electrons." Elon Musk noted that chip production is outpacing what hyperscalers can plug in, and Berkshire Hathaway CEO Greg Abel called megawatt access a "big constraint."

The economics drive the migration. Christian Lopez, head of blockchain and digital assets at Cohen & Co., estimated on the Schwab Network that a kilowatt generates $1.7 million over five years in Bitcoin mining versus $7.9 million at an AI campus. OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar puts AI data center revenue at $10 billion per gigawatt.

More than ten major crypto operators have followed. Riot signed a $9.1 billion lease with Anthropic in Milam County, Texas; Hut 8 partnered on a $7 billion contract with Google and Anthropic in Louisiana; Applied Digital signed an $11 billion CoreWeave agreement in Ellendale, North Dakota.

Compute provider or developer?

The converts split into two models. Compute providers — Bitdeer, IREN, HIVE Digital, Hut 8 — buy the GPUs, which can run 70% of a data center's roughly $50 billion-per-GW cost. HIVE's CEO Aydin Kilic said a $350 million, five-year AI contract requires $190 million of GPUs upfront but predicts returns several times Bitcoin mining per kilowatt.

Keel is a pure-play developer, leasing "powered shells" without supplying hardware. "We're strictly in the power business, and make money on the difference between what we pay the utilities, and what the compute providers pay us on their leases," Gagnon said. He cites 85% gross margins at data centers, with only 2-4% of costs going to power and buildings — meaning customers accept premium pricing to energize depreciating GPUs six months sooner.

What are the deadlines?

Keel's three priority projects: Panther Creek, 85 miles north of Philadelphia; Sharon, near Youngstown, Ohio — together securing over 450 MW; and a hydro site in Moses Lake, Washington, already fully permitted and under construction. The 700-acre Scrubgrass site near Pittsburgh has applications pending for 1 GW, 40% of Keel's total sought capacity.

In May, Gagnon guided to leases at all three priority projects by the end of 2026. On the Q3 earnings call he said no deals will be signed this year and declined to give new dates; the stock fell about 20%, leaving a market cap near $1.3 billion — roughly its level when Riot bid in 2024. He now points to the shift toward inference workloads near population centers, and notes post-midterm demand strength in Pennsylvania, where winning Democratic candidates ran on responsible data center development. Whether Keel's $900 million cushion lasts until the first AI leases sign remains the operative question for 2026.