Shares of Iris Energy Ltd (IREN), a bitcoin mining company, surged 5.12% in pre-market trading on Thursday, driven by the company's successful $400 million convertible bond offering and a rebound in bitcoin prices above the $99,000 level.
The Australia-based miner announced the pricing of its upsized $400 million convertible note offering, with proceeds earmarked to fund expansion plans, including ramping up its installed self-mining capacity to 50 EH/s and 810 megawatts of data centers by the first half of 2025.
Additionally, bitcoin prices climbed above $99,000 on Wednesday, buoyed by comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell likening the cryptocurrency to digital gold, and news of President-elect Donald Trump's crypto-friendly nominee to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission. The favorable regulatory outlook has fueled a rally in bitcoin and crypto stocks like IREN, which has seen its shares soar nearly 92% year-to-date.