The Bitcoin mining industry is undergoing a major shift, with many mining companies beginning to transition into artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure providers and selling their BTC holdings to finance the transformation.
CoinShares’ Q1 2026 report shows that the average production cost of one bitcoin for publicly listed miners rose to around 79,995 dollars in Q4 2025.
Meanwhile, bitcoin has been trading in the 68,000–70,000 dollar range, meaning many miners are estimated to be losing as much as 19,000 dollars per BTC mined.
According to Coindesk, the situation is considered unsustainable, pushing mining companies to shift their focus to AI data centres and high performance computing (HPC).
The report states that AI and HPC contracts among public miners have already exceeded 70 billion dollars.
For example, the agreement between Core Scientific and CoreWeave is worth 10.2 billion dollars over 12 years, while TeraWulf has secured HPC contracts worth 12.8 billion dollars.
Other companies such as Hut 8 have signed a 7 billion dollar AI infrastructure contract, while Cipher Digital has entered a multibillion dollar partnership with Google backed Fluidstack.
Up to 70 percent of miner revenue could come from AI by the end of 2026, up from around 30 percent today.
Some companies are even beginning to operate like data centre providers, with bitcoin mining becoming a secondary activity.
Economically, the AI business is seen as more attractive because it offers higher margins and more stable revenue than crypto mining.
Hashprice, a key indicator of miner revenue from computing power, fell to around 28–30 dollars per petahash per day in early March, the lowest level since the last halving.
To finance AI expansion, mining companies are increasing debt and selling their bitcoin reserves.
Collectively, public miners have reduced their holdings by more than 15,000 BTC from their peak. Core Scientific sold around 1,900 BTC worth 175 million dollars, while Bitdeer emptied its BTC reserves in February.
Riot Platforms also sold 1,818 BTC worth 162 million dollars in December.
This strategic shift creates a dilemma for the bitcoin network.
If more companies scale back mining because it is less profitable than AI, network security could be affected.
Data show the network hashrate has fallen from around 1,160 exahashes per second in October 2025 to around 920 EH/s, accompanied by three consecutive negative difficulty adjustments.
Even so, the market views miners with AI contracts as more attractive in valuation terms than those focused solely on crypto mining.
The industry’s geographic map is also shifting, with the United States, China, and Russia controlling around 68 percent of global hashrate, while emerging markets such as Paraguay and Ethiopia have entered the top ten.
CoinShares estimates the network hashrate could reach 1.8 zetahashes by the end of 2026 and 2 zetahashes by March 2027, but the projection depends heavily on bitcoin rising toward 100,000 dollars.
If the price stays below 80,000 dollars, pressure on miners is expected to continue and the shift toward AI will accelerate.
Overall, an industry once focused on securing the bitcoin network is increasingly transforming into an AI data centre developer, with BTC sales becoming a key source of funding for that transition. (DK/LM)
Originally written by: Lisa Monica, Dhika Priambodo
Source: IDN Financials
Published on: 28 March 2026Â
Link to original article: Bitcoin mining companies are turning to AI business
