For a few years, Daniel and Will Roberts’ Bitcoin-mining venture was a wild ride. The former Macquarie Group Ltd. bankers took IREN Ltd. public in November 2021, just as the pandemic-fueled crypto mania peaked.
The following year, the company’s shares plunged 96%, leaving the Australian brothers hanging on to their decimated stock. Eighteen months ago, they pivoted — steering the business away from crypto and toward the surging demand for data centers and computing power driving the artificial intelligence boom.