Bitcoin Hashrate Drops as Miners Repurpose Infrastructure for AI

Bitcoin's network hashrate has been in decline for nearly 287 days, dropping by about 15% since its peak in October 2025. This marks the first sustained decrease in years and follows the 2024 halving, which reduced mining rewards by half and squeezed miner profits. As a result, many miners have repurposed their power infrastructure for AI data center workloads, leading to significant stock gains despite Bitcoin's stable price range.

The shift towards AI has offered miners more predictable and higher-margin revenue but also introduces risks such as contract execution and potential centralization of Bitcoin mining power. Companies like TeraWulf, Cipher Mining, and Hut 8 have signed over $70 billion in potential contracts, contributing to their stock gains.