$30 Billion AI Pivot Sparks Bitcoin Miner Freeze

The largest Bitcoin miners have significantly reduced their selling of mined coins and shifted to a holding mode in response to a massive industry transformation. Over the past six months, public miners have collectively decreased their realized hashrate by 15%, shutting down around 56 EH/s of computing power.

This move was not due to capitulation, but rather companies redirecting resources towards high-performance computing (HPC) and AI infrastructure. Industry reports confirm this shift.

Cango and IREN led the exodus, disconnecting 29.5 EH/s and 21.9 EH/s, respectively, during the first half of the year. These two players accounted for 68% of the total decline in capacity among public companies.

The cost of this transformation is substantial, with combined spending on repurposing data centers for AI exceeding $30 billion. This enormous cash gap forced miners to actively sell their mined Bitcoin during the summer rallies.