Anthropic’s huge funding push is sending ripples through crypto markets — and lighting a fire under AI-focused bitcoin miners. The Financial Times reports Anthropic, the creator of the Claude chatbot, is lining up roughly $20 billion in fresh investment in a deal that would value the San Francisco AI startup at about $350 billion. The company initially sought a $10 billion round, but investor appetite for AI quickly swelled. Between $10 billion and $15 billion of the new capital is expected to arrive as soon as Tuesday, with the remainder closing in the coming weeks. The financing is led by Singapore’s GIC and U.S. investor Coatue, with Sequoia Capital also putting in a large chunk. Microsoft and Nvidia had already pledged earlier commitments of $10 billion and $5 billion, respectively. Crypto markets reacted fast. Public bitcoin miners that have been pivoting into AI and high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure outperformed on the news: IREN (IREN) and Cipher Mining (CIFR) jumped more than 12%, while Hut 8 (HUT) and TeraWulf (WULF) climbed over 8%. AI-linked token Near Protocol (NEAR) ticked up modestly, trading around $1.4839. Why it matters for crypto: big AI deals boost demand for data-center capacity, specialized hardware and HPC services — areas where miners and blockchain infrastructure providers are increasingly positioning themselves. Anthropic’s blockbuster raise underscores how AI capital flows can quickly spill over into crypto and infrastructure plays. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news

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