Crypto Miner Evokes ‘Barbarians at the Gate’ With Huge Junk Deal

TeraWulf Inc.’s $3.2 billion debt deal to expand a data center garnered a comparison to one of the high-yield market’s most acclaimed moments.

That’s because it’s the biggest junk bond sale to be led by one Wall Street institution — in this case, Morgan Stanley — since the acquisition of RJR Nabisco in 1989, the famous leveraged buyout chronicled in the book Barbarians at the Gate.

Last week, the cryptocurrency miner nabbed more than $11 billion worth of orders, drawing significant demand from investors who were compelled by an untested structure: a so-called “backstop” from Alphabet Inc.’s ...