US data left the Federal Reserve in an uncomfortable position. Core PCE for July rose 0.2% month on month and 3.3% year on year, both in line with consensus, while headline PCE came in firmer at 3.7%, a tenth above expectations1. As the Fed’s preferred measure, it points to inflation that remains stubborn and limits the scope for cuts.
The rest of the data pulled the other way. Consumer confidence fell to 89.4 in August, its weakest in seven months, with the expectations component down 5.8 points to 68.22. New home sales dropped 10.5% in July to 607,000, with inventory at 9.6 months of supply3. Borrowing costs are biting, but the economy is not deteriorating fast enough to force the Fed’s hand. Chair Kevin Warsh delivers his first Jackson Hole keynote on 28 Aug 2026, and it is not at all clear he turns as dovish as markets have been pricing.
Flows have responded. Bitcoin closed 26 Aug 2026 near $78,500 and reclaimed its 200 day moving average for the first time in 270 sessions. Across all issuers globally, digital asset investment products took $1.65B in the first three trading days of the week to 27 Aug 2026, after $2.94B in the full week to 20 Aug 2026, the largest weekly inflow of the year. Bitcoin led at $976M, Ethereum at $478M, and the US drove $1.5B of the total. These are industry-wide figures covering every issuer globally, not CoinShares product flows.
Where the miners come in
The more durable story for portfolios is that red tape, not capital, is now the binding constraint on US data centre build out, and Bitcoin miners are among the principal beneficiaries. Data centre vacancy has fallen from 10% in 2019 to around 1% today, where it has held for a third consecutive year4. Capacity seeking a grid connection stands at roughly 2,060 gigawatts against total installed US generating capacity of roughly 1,300 gigawatts, around 1.6 times the entire existing fleet5. With the average time to connect a new facility now around five years, energised sites carry a substantial premium.
Miners already hold that infrastructure, and face no regulatory hurdle to switching capacity into AI. The share of revenue from AI across the listed mining sector has climbed from around 30% toward an estimated 70% by year end. For advisors, that reframes the listed miners from a leveraged bitcoin proxy toward an energy and infrastructure exposure.
For more news, information, and strategy, visit the CoinShares Crypto ETF Hub.
Sources
- US Bureau of Economic Analysis, Personal Income and Outlays, July 2026
- The Conference Board, Consumer Confidence Index, August 2026
- US Census Bureau, Monthly New Residential Sales, July 2026
- JLL, North America Data Center Report, Midyear 2026
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Queued Up: 2026 Edition
