Bitcoin Miners Ditch Crypto Roots for AI Goldmine

Bitcoin miners are shifting their focus from cryptocurrency mining to artificial intelligence infrastructure. According to CoinShares, publicly listed Bitcoin miners will generate around 70% of their combined revenue from AI infrastructure by December, up from about 30% today.

This projection comes from a Q1 2026 mining report by digital asset manager CoinShares, cited by Bloomberg. More than $70 billion in cumulative AI and high-performance computing contracts have been announced across the public mining sector.

The shift follows a brutal quarter for miners, with Hashprice, the measure of daily revenue per petahash, falling to around $29, levels last seen after the April 2024 halving. Bitcoin mining gross margins have dropped to roughly 60%, down from above 90% during the 2021 bull run.

James Butterfill, CoinShares head of research, said AI offers structurally higher and more stable returns than mining, with cloud margins near 85%. Matthew Kimmell, investment strategist at CoinShares, warned that the transition could mark the end of an era for large US miners, citing thin margins and hashprice hitting bottoms.