Bitcoin Miners Shift Focus to AI Data Centers
Fidelity Digital Assets' research highlights an unexpected trend in the crypto market. In its May report, '6 Key Trends Shaping Digital Assets in 2026', Fidelity notes that Bitcoin miners are increasingly redirecting their infrastructure towards AI data centers.
This shift is driven by economics, as AI workloads currently offer better profitability than proof-of-work mining for many operators. As a result, the average 30-day hash rate of Bitcoin has declined approximately 8.8% year-to-date, and mining difficulty has dropped by roughly 7.8% over the same period.
The decline in hash rate means that the network is recalibrating to a world where fewer machines are dedicated to securing it. This could have significant implications for Bitcoin's security model, which relies on hash rate to prevent attacks. Companies like Core Scientific and Hut 8 have already discussed or executed pivots towards AI hosting.