Bitcoin Miners Diversify Amid Rising Costs

Bitcoin miners are adapting to rising costs and decreased revenue by diversifying into artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing businesses.

In the second quarter of 2026, the listed miners' weighted average pretax cash cost to produce one Bitcoin was approximately $75,500, surpassing the cryptocurrency's price at quarter-end ($58,400).

The industry-wide hash price, a measure of miner revenue per unit of computing power, plummeted to a record low of $27.70 per petahash per day in June.

Core Scientific paid a significant $41.9 million to cancel an order for next-generation mining equipment that would have contributed 15 exahashes per second to the company's planned capacity.