Galaxy Digital Is Borrowing $3.5B in Junk Bonds — And It’s Not for Crypto
Galaxy Digital, a name crypto holders know well, is raising $3.5B in high-yield debt to build an AI data center, not buy Bitcoin.
Galaxy Digital, the crypto merchant bank many holders associate with Bitcoin trading and digital asset services, is about to take on $3.507 billion in high-yield debt — and none of it is going toward crypto. The money is earmarked for building the second phase of an AI data center in rural Texas, with pricing on the bond sale set for July 23.
It’s a reminder of just how far some crypto-native companies have drifted from their original business as the AI infrastructure boom offers steadier, bigger paydays than digital assets alone.
What Galaxy is actually building
The bonds — structured as senior secured notes maturing in 2031 and sold as a private placement — will fund the expansion of Galaxy’s Helios Data Center Campus in Dickens County, West Texas. The new phase adds two buildings capable of delivering 400 megawatts of total power capacity, with 260 megawatts going directly to computing hardware. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are running the bond sale.
The tenant locking in that capacity is CoreWeave, the cloud computing firm that specializes in renting out AI computing power. CoreWeave has signed a 15-year lease covering the entire new facility, a deal Galaxy expects to generate more than $1 billion a year in revenue once it’s up and running. Rent payments are expected to start in the second quarter of 2027, with Galaxy projecting an initial return of around 13.7% on the cost of building it, and operating margins near 90%.
Galaxy’s first Helios building came online in early 2026, and construction on this second, much bigger phase is due to start in 2027. Looking further out, Galaxy’s own projections point to roughly $3.8 billion in cumulative cash flow left over after debt payments by 2043 — though the company itself is careful to note the offering’s final terms aren’t guaranteed.
Why a crypto company is doing this
For readers who mainly know Galaxy Digital through Bitcoin or crypto trading headlines, this deal might look like a strange detour. It isn’t a one-off. Just last month, a subsidiary of Applied Digital Corp raised $1.59 billion in similar high-yield debt to build CoreWeave-leased computing infrastructure in North Dakota. Junk bonds backed by long-term CoreWeave leases are becoming a go-to funding model across the sector, essentially letting infrastructure builders borrow cheaply against a decade-plus of guaranteed rent.
It also marks a shift in how Galaxy itself raises money. The company has historically leaned on convertible notes — debt that can turn into shares later — rather than straightforward high-yield bonds. Moving to this kind of conventional debt suggests Galaxy sees AI infrastructure as stable enough cash flow to borrow against directly, rather than diluting shareholders.
What it means if you hold GLXY or CRWV
Markets reacted quietly. GLXY shares dipped 0.24% on the news, while CoreWeave’s stock climbed 5.69% in the same session, suggesting investors see the lease as a bigger win for the tenant locking in cheap, long-term computing capacity than for the landlord taking on new debt.
For everyday crypto holders, the takeaway isn’t about a token price move — it’s about where “crypto companies” are actually putting their money these days. Galaxy Digital is increasingly a bet on AI real estate as much as digital assets, and that diversification cuts both ways: it can smooth out crypto’s usual volatility, but it also means GLXY’s fortunes are now tied to a debt-fueled AI data center bet, not just Bitcoin’s next move.
Read more: Ethereum’s Biggest Corporate Buyer Just Hit the Brakes — Here’s Why That’s Not Bad News
