{"id":95968,"date":"2026-04-07T10:03:30","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T07:03:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/?p=95968"},"modified":"2026-04-07T10:06:51","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T07:06:51","slug":"capitulation-or-evolution-why-bitcoin-miners-are-betting-on-ai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/capitulation-or-evolution-why-bitcoin-miners-are-betting-on-ai\/","title":{"rendered":"Capitulation or evolution: why bitcoin miners are betting on AI"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bitcoin mining is undergoing the most radical transformation in its history. What seemed like a forced diversification amid market instability a couple of years ago had, by spring 2026, turned into a wholesale remake of the sector.<\/p>\n

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Traditional miners, long the guarantors of the network\u2019s stability and security, are swiftly retraining as data centres<\/span> operators for artificial intelligence. The pivot is accompanied by an unprecedented \u201csale of the family silver\u201d: companies are liquidating accumulated bitcoin reserves to pay for Nvidia GPUs and to retire hefty debts.<\/p>\n

Classic mine-to-hold operations are fading, giving way to hybrid infrastructure models. But what future awaits bitcoin if hashing becomes a low-margin by-product of renting racks to neural networks?<\/p>\n

The end of the HODL era for public companies<\/h2>\n

By spring 2026 the mining segment was in a muddle. Late last year the bitcoin network crossed 1 ZH\/s. Yet the finances of the companies providing the hashrate<\/a> had markedly deteriorated.<\/p>\n

\"1_1_hashrate\"
Bitcoin hashrate dynamics. Source: Glassnode<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The industry ran into a \u201cparadox of efficiency\u201d: aggregate compute kept rising while hashprice<\/span> sank to record lows of $28\u201330 per PH\/s.<\/p>\n

For comparison: in the third quarter of 2025 the figure hovered around $55; at the peaks of prior bull cycles it ran into the hundreds of dollars.<\/p>\n

\"1_2_hashprice\"
Bitcoin hashprice dynamics. Source: Hashrate Index<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The first quarter of 2026 was bitcoin\u2019s worst start in eight years. A 22.2% slide \u2014 from about $87,500 in January to below $70,000 by the end of March \u2014 upended the economics of most large miners.<\/p>\n

\"1_3_coinglass_Q_returns\"
Quarterly bitcoin performance. Source: CoinGlass<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Over the past six months the asset fell by more than 40%. In such conditions, the \u201cmine and hold\u201d strategy (or HODL<\/span>) ceased to be effective<\/a> and now threatens many companies with bankruptcy.<\/p>\n

According to CoinShares and TheEnergyMag<\/a>, the industry is in the throes of a broad capitulation \u2014 one masked, for now, by the inertia of large infrastructure projects and long-term power contracts that prevent firms from simply pulling the plug.<\/p>\n

The numbers are unforgiving<\/h2>\n

For most publicly listed miners, bitcoin production has turned loss-making.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the fourth quarter of 2025, the sector\u2019s weighted-average all-in cost to mine one bitcoin rose to $79,995. With the market price near $70,000, each coin minted was generating almost $10,000 in net losses.<\/p>\n

\"1
For major players such as TerraWulf and Core Scientific, average unit costs far exceed $100,000. Source: CoinShares<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The industry faces a systemic crisis driven by several forces at once.<\/p>\n

Fee income is meagre<\/h3>\n

Last autumn, difficulty hit an all-time high, yet miners\u2019 fee income dropped below 0.7% of the block reward. Bitcoin is used mainly for large-value settlement, and on-chain activity remains subdued.<\/p>\n