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Riot Platforms Gets Double Upgrade on AI Pivot as JPMorgan, Citi Hike Targets
Alongside, JPMorgan downgraded IREN and CleanSpark
Sep 26, 2025, 2:45 p.m.
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What to know:
- JPMorgan upgraded Riot Platforms to overweight, while downgrading IREN and CleanSpark.
- Citigroup also upgraded RIOT.
- HPC and AI cloud were seen as key upside drivers, with JPMorgan assigning a 50% probability of new co-location deals.
Riot Platforms (RIOT) picked up back-to-back upgrades from Wall Street on Friday, with JPMorgan and Citigroup both raising their outlooks on the bitcoin miner amid changing industry economics and a shift toward high-performance computing.
JPMorgan boosted Riot to overweight from neutral and raised its price target to $19 from $15, calling it the most attractive among its mining peers. Citi upgraded to buy from neutral and lifted its price target to $24 from $13.75. Both firms pointed to Riot’s pivot into artificial intelligence and cloud services as a potential growth driver as mining profits tighten. Riot was modestly outperforming a sharply lower sector on Friday, declining "just" 1.2% to $16.55.
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Alongside its upgrade of RIOT, JPMorgan downgraded the previously very hot-handed IREN to underweight from neutral. Shares are down 9.7% on Friday, but still higher by 300% year-to-date. CleanSpark (CLSK) was cut to neutral and it's lower by 9.3% Friday and higher by 34% year-to-date.
The bank maintained its buy rating on Cipher Mining (CIFR), and doubled its price target to $12 from $6. The shares were 3.5% lower to $11.20 at publication time.
MARA Holdings (MARA) was kept at overweight, with a reduced price objective of $20, down from $22. The stock was 1% lower around $15.90 in early trading.
JPMorgan’s analysts are assigning a 50% probability that Riot, Cipher, and IREN each secure near-term high performance computing (HPC) colocation agreements, using Core Scientific’s (CORZ) 800 MW CoreWeave (CRWV) deal as a benchmark. The bank values HPC colocation contracts at $3.7 million to $8.6 million per gross megawatt (MW).
Read more: Bitcoin Mining Profitability Fell in August, Jefferies Says
AI Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk's full AI Policy.
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- Bloomberg Intelligence strategist Mike McGlone warns that collapsing crypto prices and a potential bitcoin slide toward $10,000 could signal mounting financial stress and foreshadow a U.S. recession.
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- Market analyst Jason Fernandes counters that a drop to $10,000 bitcoin would likely require a severe systemic shock and recession, calling such an outcome a low-probability tail risk compared with a milder reset or consolidation.
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