Miners Ditch Bitcoin for AI Data Centers as Economics Fail
Cipher Digital and Hyperscale Data are among the latest miners to sell Bitcoin as they shift focus towards building AI data centers. Cipher's mining revenue declined by 29% in the second quarter, leading the company to record a net loss of $267.5 million.
Hyperscale Data converted around 150.5 BTC into $9.6 million during the week that ended August 2, leaving its Bitcoin holdings at 959 coins worth about $60.8 million.
The trend of miners selling off their Bitcoin holdings is attributed to the economics no longer working in favor of mining. The weighted-average cash cost to produce one Bitcoin among listed miners reached roughly $79,995 in Q4 2025, leaving miners losing an estimated $19,000 on every coin they mined.
Cipher has raised $3.73 billion across three senior secured bond offerings to build its Barber Lake and Black Pearl campuses. The company's CEO, Tyler Page, stated that they delivered their first HPC data center capacity ahead of schedule with rent at Black Pearl starting two months early in August.