Bitcoin Volatility Causes $1.8 Billion to Vanish from AI Mining Stocks

Shares of Bitcoin and AI infrastructure company IREN (IREN LIMITED: IREN) plunged 11.42% on the Nasdaq on February 5, closing at $39.79, amid overlapping concerns over Bitcoin weakness and the upcoming earnings announcement. Trading volume exceeded 36.04 million shares, and its market capitalization of roughly $13 billion (about ₩17 trillion) saw approximately $1.3 billion (around ₩1.8 trillion) wiped out compared to the previous day. Analysts attribute the heightened volatility to a roughly 3% drop in Bitcoin’s price combined with investor caution ahead of the second-quarter earnings release.

IREN will report its fiscal 2026 second-quarter results after the market close on February 5, holding a conference call at 5 p.m. New York time. It was also recently disclosed that U.S. Representative Cleo Fields purchased between $51,000 and $100,000 worth of IREN shares on January 20, confirming an inflow of political capital.

Based in Sydney, Australia, IREN is a Bitcoin mining and data center operator that leverages large-scale power and land assets in North America’s renewable energy sector to pursue both Bitcoin mining and AI high-performance computing. After rebranding from Iris Energy in November 2024, the company has aggressively expanded its Bitcoin hash rate and power capacity throughout the year, while also growing its AI cloud services, positioning itself as a prominent “Bitcoin plus AI” growth stock.