Bitcoin miners transition to AI infrastructure amid falling profits

When discussing the repurposing of mining farms for AI needs, it’s important to understand that this does not happen in 100% of cases. Some new specialized data campuses will emerge. Nevertheless, even in these cases, miners have an advantage, as they understand the specifics of data centers and have experience in organizational, operational-financial, and management matters. In other words, large capital sometimes finds it more advantageous to delegate such matters to specialized companies.

Among the examples of infrastructure repurposing is Bitdeer’s campus in the Norwegian municipality of Tydal.

ASIC Nuances

Modern large-scale cryptocurrency mining is primarily carried out using specialized ASIC hardware designed exclusively for mining. ASIC (Application-Specific Integrated Circuit) is a specialized integrated circuit engineered to perform one specific task. Such chips can be used not only in mining but also in other fields where the goal is to minimize production costs for equipment tailored to specific requirements.

ASIC miners themselves vary, depending on the hashing algorithms used by specific cryptocurrencies. For example, Bitcoin uses the SHA-256 hashing algorithm, while Litecoin uses Scrypt. Manufacturers of such devices offer different, and often non-interchangeable, units.

For example, the manufacturer Bitmain produces the Antminer S21 model for the SHA-256 algorithm, the Antminer L9 for the Scrypt algorithm, and the same Antminer D9 for the X11 hashing algorithm. In the simplest terms, an ASIC miner is a computing device stripped of all unnecessary components to increase efficiency in cryptocurrency mining and thereby reduce production costs.

On the other hand, advanced AI computations also require their own specialized technical capabilities. Moreover, the efficiency of individual computations using graphics processing units (GPUs) varies depending on the manufacturer and specific model, as their architectures differ fundamentally.

In other words, you can't simply remove the "Mining" sign from a facility that previously housed coin mining operations and ASICs, and replace it with a new one saying "Artificial Intelligence"—the equipment must be replaced.

Didn't the realignment of major U.S. miners deliver a decisive blow to Bitcoin?

What happened to the hash rate?

The BTC hash rate has certainly been impacted by miners shifting to AI. From October 2025 to January 2026, the seven-day moving average of the hash rate declined by 28%, dropping from 1.15 EH/s to 0.83 EH/s. However, this trend should not be overly surprising, given that U.S.-based mining companies account for up to 40% of Bitcoin’s total hash rate.

Source: studio.glassnode.com

By August 2026, there is some recovery in hash rate, with its value hovering around 0.9 EH/s. Additionally, according to CoinShares forecasts, the 1.8 EH/s mark is expected to be breached by the end of the year, and 2 EH/s by the end of 2027.

It’s important to remember that shifting focus to AI does not mean miners are completely abandoning mining. In most cases, they simply reduce the scale of financial investments in mining, anticipating greater profits from AI.

How many bitcoins could miners have potentially mined if they hadn't shifted focus to AI?

Number of lost bitcoins

Actually, answering the question is hardly possible.

• First, how is everything calculated? If miners had not invested in AI infrastructure, they would not have secured large contracts. Therefore, these funds cannot be counted toward the potential expansion of the mining money supply. Similarly, credit funds actively attracted by mining companies. From this perspective, it appears that the companies themselves earned even more than they could have without AI computations.

• Second, the question: who and how much was missed? If we refer, for example, to the report from Riot Platforms for the first quarter (data for the second quarter is not yet available), this company mined 1,473 BTC—just 57 coins fewer than during the same period in 2025 (a 3.7% decline). The change appears more like a statistical fluctuation than a structural shift. Additionally, miners, without halting mining operations, may choose to cease further expansion in mining and instead pursue AI initiatives as a short-term, highly profitable venture.

It’s also important to note: if conditional IREN, TerraWulf, or HUT 8 did not mine BTC, it simply means their balances did not increase. Bitcoin is still being mined as before—new coins are just going to other miners, not to these companies’ wallets. The block reward remains fixed, with predictable reductions at halvings, and only the network transaction fees fluctuate. Moreover, if a significant number of major players simultaneously shut down their mining operations, the next network difficulty adjustment will make it slightly easier for other participants to mine cryptocurrency. In other words, those “undiscovered bitcoins” will still be mined by someone else in the network.

Miner revenue

Amid today’s economic and geopolitical instability, it is unfortunately not yet possible to speak with certainty about exact figures—only projections are available. CoinShares estimates that AI-generated revenue for mining companies will reach 70%, up from just 30% at the beginning of the year. In other words, this represents a doubling of revenue. Essentially, while mining was previously the primary activity for these companies, it will now become a secondary one. On the other hand, this does not mean they will definitively abandon mining; rather, priorities are likely to be reassessed.

How did such large-scale changes affect the stocks of cryptocurrency mining organizations?

Stocks and the shift to AI

In most cases, the impact was positive. Since the beginning of the year, the stock prices of five companies increased: IREN by 5.69%, Terra Wulf by 45.92%, MARA Holdings by 9.49%, Riot Platforms by 57.72%, and Cipher Digital by 14.76%. The exception is Bitdeer, whose shares declined by 4.73%.

Nevertheless, certain investor concerns regarding the transition to AI remain.

• First, it is still unclear how successful this entire endeavor will be in the future. Will miners actually generate profits sufficient to cover all current and future costs?

• Second, the shift from mining to developing artificial intelligence infrastructure has prompted several organizations to take on massive amounts of debt—$5.7 billion for TerraWulf and $3.7 billion for IREN. Such a significant increase in leverage is bound to concern shareholders.

Withdraw

Major mining companies are shifting from exclusively cryptocurrency mining to generating revenue from AI due to economic viability and existing infrastructure and management models. According to some projections, by the end of the year, the majority of their income will come from AI operators rather than mining. The Bitcoin hash rate experienced a minor and temporary decline following this business realignment but is already recovering. Shares of most public miners are rising amid their business transformation.

This material and the information contained herein are not individual or any other form of recommendation. The editorial opinion may not align with the views of analytical platforms and experts.