CoreWeave pivoted from a crypto-mining firm to a $43 billion AI company. Its CEO says being “nerdy” helped the transformation.

Michael Intrator, the company’s cofounder and CEO, said CoreWeave’s early days in crypto gave it an edge in understanding how to use GPUs, the chips now powering the AI boom.

“We’re pretty nerdy, we dig under the hood,” Intrator said on an episode of the All-In podcast recorded at Nvidia’s GTC conference and released Monday.

CoreWeave started by mining Ethereum and weathered multiple crypto downturns, including the 2018 crash that sent Bitcoin tumbling from nearly $20,000 to around $3,000 in just 12 months.

“We weathered crypto winter really well and immediately started to…