VanEck CEO Jan van Eck argues that approving more nuclear power would cut electricity costs enough to ease Bitcoin miners' need to sell their coins, while also lifting the value of AI. VanEck's own research head, Matthew Sigel, points to early signs that miner selling is already slowing.
Jan van Eck, CEO of VanEck, says approving more nuclear power plants would raise the value of AI and reduce Bitcoin sell pressure by delivering cheaper electricity. His argument rests on one shared constraint: AI and Bitcoin mining both run on enormous amounts of electricity, so whoever controls cheap, reliable power controls the economics of both.
A policy shift driven by AI and crypto demand
In a September 2025 interview, van Eck pointed to a major policy shift in favor of nuclear power, driven by surging electricity demand from AI data centers and digital asset activity. He cited bipartisan support for nuclear energy in the US, referencing initiatives from both the current administration and the Trump administration, including a plan aimed at quadrupling US nuclear output over the next 25 years.
Van Eck also pointed to the restart of a reactor at Three Mile Island as evidence the trend extends beyond rhetoric. That restart runs through a deal between Microsoft and Constellation Energy designed to bring a Three Mile Island unit back online ahead of its original schedule.
Why miners keep coming up
Matthew Sigel, VanEck's head of digital assets research, argues Bitcoin miners sit in an unusually strong position: they already hold extensive power contracts and the physical infrastructure to use them, the exact assets AI and high-performance computing firms are scrambling to secure. He has said the market values miners at a discount to traditional data center operators. According to Sigel: "underappreciated optionality."
Miners have traditionally sold a portion of the Bitcoin they produce to cover operating costs, especially electricity. If they start earning revenue from AI and computing contracts instead, they would lean less on selling Bitcoin to pay the bills. Sigel has also pointed to signs of seller fatigue among Bitcoin miners, observed in October 2026, which he links to the structural value of miner power assets as AI demand rises.
A firm with a stake in both stories
VanEck runs Bitcoin investment products alongside a nuclear-focused fund. Its Uranium and Nuclear ETF, trading under the ticker NLR, was reportedly up approximately 40% in the year. The fund drew around $2.8 billion in assets by the end of 2025. Readers should weigh the commentary with that context: a firm that sells both nuclear and crypto exposure has reasons to talk up the overlap between them.
For Bitcoin, the most interesting part of van Eck's argument is about who sells the asset and why. If AI contracts and cheaper electricity turn miners into diversified power companies, a reliable source of coin supply could quietly shrink.
Source: Crypto Briefing
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