Blockfusion signs 15-year lease with unnamed AI customer at Niagara Falls campus

Photo: Merlin Lightpainting / Pexels

Blockfusion signs 15-year lease with unnamed AI customer at Niagara Falls campus

The former crypto miner's pivot to AI infrastructure could generate up to $5.4 billion in revenue over 25 years

Blockfusion, once a cryptocurrency mining operation powered by Niagara Falls’ cheap hydroelectric energy, just locked in a deal that could be worth billions. The company’s subsidiary, North East Data, announced a letter of intent for up to 300 MW of critical IT capacity at its Niagara Falls, New York campus, with a 15-year initial lease term.

The guaranteed portion alone, 85 MW of take-or-pay capacity, could generate roughly $2.8B in revenue over the initial 15-year period. If both optional five-year renewal periods are exercised, that figure balloons to approximately $5.4B over 25 years.

From Bitcoin mining to GPU farms

Blockfusion was founded in 2019 as a crypto mining company. The Niagara Falls location made perfect sense at the time: hydroelectric power at around 6 cents per kilowatt-hour is the kind of electricity cost that makes mining economics actually work.

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But the company’s leadership, CEO Alex Martini and COO Kant Trivedi, apparently read the room. The insatiable appetite for AI compute infrastructure has turned data center capacity into one of the hottest commodities in tech. So Blockfusion is retooling.

The facility currently operates at approximately 50 MW. Plans call for a Tier 3 upgrade designed to handle high-density GPU and AI workloads. Tier 3 data centers offer 99.982% uptime, the kind of reliability that AI training and inference workloads demand.

The LOI structures delivery in phases. Going from 50 MW to a potential 300 MW involves power delivery systems, cooling architecture, and network connectivity upgrades.

The SPAC merger and financing picture

Blockfusion is simultaneously pursuing a merger with Blue Acquisition Corp, a special purpose acquisition company, which would take the data center operator public.

Running alongside the SPAC deal is a planned $175M raise through convertible senior notes, with backing from Sona Asset Management.

The LOI announced on June 30, 2026, remains non-binding except for confidentiality and exclusivity provisions. The exclusivity clause prevents Blockfusion from shopping the same capacity to competitors while negotiations continue.

The crypto-to-AI pipeline

The guaranteed 85 MW of take-or-pay capacity means the tenant pays whether they use it or not. For Blockfusion, that’s a revenue floor. For the tenant, it’s a guarantee that capacity will be available when their GPU clusters need it.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Blockfusion signs 15-year lease with unnamed AI customer at Niagara Falls campus
Blockfusion signs 15-year lease with unnamed AI customer at Niagara Falls campus

The former crypto miner's pivot to AI infrastructure could generate up to $5.4 billion in revenue over 25 years

Photo: Merlin Lightpainting / Pexels

Blockfusion, once a cryptocurrency mining operation powered by Niagara Falls’ cheap hydroelectric energy, just locked in a deal that could be worth billions. The company’s subsidiary, North East Data, announced a letter of intent for up to 300 MW of critical IT capacity at its Niagara Falls, New York campus, with a 15-year initial lease term.

The guaranteed portion alone, 85 MW of take-or-pay capacity, could generate roughly $2.8B in revenue over the initial 15-year period. If both optional five-year renewal periods are exercised, that figure balloons to approximately $5.4B over 25 years.

From Bitcoin mining to GPU farms

Blockfusion was founded in 2019 as a crypto mining company. The Niagara Falls location made perfect sense at the time: hydroelectric power at around 6 cents per kilowatt-hour is the kind of electricity cost that makes mining economics actually work.

Advertisement

But the company’s leadership, CEO Alex Martini and COO Kant Trivedi, apparently read the room. The insatiable appetite for AI compute infrastructure has turned data center capacity into one of the hottest commodities in tech. So Blockfusion is retooling.

The facility currently operates at approximately 50 MW. Plans call for a Tier 3 upgrade designed to handle high-density GPU and AI workloads. Tier 3 data centers offer 99.982% uptime, the kind of reliability that AI training and inference workloads demand.

The LOI structures delivery in phases. Going from 50 MW to a potential 300 MW involves power delivery systems, cooling architecture, and network connectivity upgrades.

The SPAC merger and financing picture

Blockfusion is simultaneously pursuing a merger with Blue Acquisition Corp, a special purpose acquisition company, which would take the data center operator public.

Running alongside the SPAC deal is a planned $175M raise through convertible senior notes, with backing from Sona Asset Management.

The LOI announced on June 30, 2026, remains non-binding except for confidentiality and exclusivity provisions. The exclusivity clause prevents Blockfusion from shopping the same capacity to competitors while negotiations continue.

The crypto-to-AI pipeline

The guaranteed 85 MW of take-or-pay capacity means the tenant pays whether they use it or not. For Blockfusion, that’s a revenue floor. For the tenant, it’s a guarantee that capacity will be available when their GPU clusters need it.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.