Crypto Firms Ditch Bitcoin Mining for AI Infrastructure

Crypto companies are pivoting away from Bitcoin mining and towards artificial intelligence (AI), driven by falling rewards for miners since the cryptocurrency's value slumped. Companies like TerraWulf, Ionic Digital, Core Scientific, Iris Energy, Bitdeer, Riot Platforms, and Hut 8 are investing in AI infrastructure and signing deals with companies such as Anthropic.

Bitcoin mining requires powerful computers to verify transactions and are rewarded with newly-created digital coins, but the rewards have reduced since last year. The value of one Bitcoin was around $124,000 at its peak in October 2025, but has since fallen sharply, rallying only to around $80,000 recently.

Refitting crypto mines for AI is expensive and some companies have had to sell their Bitcoin holdings to fund the switch. Wolfie Zhao from The Energy Mag predicts that many public miners will continue winding down their Bitcoin mining hardware in the coming quarters.