- Bitcoin miners are struggling to stay afloat.
- Artificial intelligence offers them a lifeline.
- Will they pivot?
Bitcoin miners have had a hard time right now.
The hash price — a metric that measures how much revenue miners earn per unit of computing power — has hit an all-time low in recent weeks, and the low price of the leading cryptocurrency is hurting profit margins for companies in this cutthroat industry.
But the focus on selling their processing power to fuel the AI revolution offers an increasingly tempting alternative.
said Nick Hansen, CEO and co-founder of Luxor Mining Complex DL News “Resisting the urge to move to artificial intelligence” will be the biggest challenge facing Bitcoin miners in 2026, he said.
Although the move to AI is attractive, he said it is still “a very difficult balance to strike [both mining and high-performance computing]”.
This prediction comes at a time when Bitcoin miners are struggling to cover their expenses due to the free fall in cryptocurrency prices. sinking Daily transaction fees, low rewards for maintaining blockchain technology – and that’s when it doesn’t exist Forbidden From working together.
Fall rewards
Bitcoin’s price trading at around $87,000, 30% below its all-time high in October, is one reason miners are struggling. MinerMag data showed that most large miners in the third quarter broke even at around $90,000 per bitcoin.
The lower the price, the lower the rewards – in dollar terms – for maintaining the blockchain.
These rewards actually diminished after last year’s halving event reduced Miner rewards for minting blocks halving are up to 3,125 cryptocurrencies.
Low transaction fees don’t help miners make money either. While institutional adoption by the likes of BlackRock has helped bring cryptocurrencies into the mainstream, it has meant that a lot of bitcoins have been locked up and will not be used for transactions.
With fewer transactions, miners face lower fees.
Pivotal artificial intelligence
Hence the focus of artificial intelligence.
A number of large publicly listed miners have started trading directing Resources to provide high-power computing infrastructure.
Some miners are already intervening in the industry, as minting the largest cryptocurrency by market cap becomes unprofitable. Bitfarms listed on the Nasdaq in November Announce It will end mining operations to instead focus on high-performance computing.
“Bitcoin miners are now an integral part of the AI value chain, providing warm-powered architectures for AI data centers — the biggest bottleneck to implementation,” Bernstein analysts said. books In the November 3 report.
While many public miners do not stop mining operations entirely, they market themselves as “computing” or “digital infrastructure” companies while switching between minting digital coins and providing computing for AI – depending on which is more profitable.
“We’ve seen more miners trying to say they’re in the ‘computing business’ rather than mining digital assets,” Hansen added. “Which I think is fair, since any idea of harnessing computing to produce value is easier for the average investor to understand.”
Mining majors Terawulf, IREN and Cipher Mining have signed multi-year HPC contracts with Alphabet Inc. Google and Microsoft.
Bitcoin miners have been eyeing the field of artificial intelligence for some time. While both industries require massive amounts of power and data centers, this step is not always easy – AI data centers require more expertise than Bitcoin mining operations.
“Margins are clearly under pressure right now, but bitcoin mining has seen many similar moments in the past,” said Gwen Lauber, vice president of corporate affairs at Bitcoin mining technology company Canaan.
Lauber added that miners will be paying attention to the macroeconomic picture next year — including next steps from the Federal Reserve.
“A easing cycle in 2026 will likely lead to better bitcoin prices and mining margins,” she said.
Matthew DiSalvo is a news reporter at DL News. Got a tip? Email at [email protected].
