Bitcoin miners, facing increased competition and reduced rewards, are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence (AI) to boost their revenue streams. This shift involves repurposing mining rigs, securing new financing, and signing deals to provide data center services for AI firms.
The primary driver behind this pivot is the Bitcoin halving event, which occurs approximately every four years and reduces the reward for mining new blocks. The most recent halving in April 2024 slashed block rewards to 3.125 BTC, significantly impacting miners' profitability. This reduction, combined with rising electricity costs and the expense of maintaining mining equipment, has made traditional Bitcoin mining less lucrative, prompting miners to seek alternative revenue sources.
One notable example of this shift is Core Scientific, which emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in early 2024 by transitioning from a pure Bitcoin miner to a colocation service provider for AI companies. The company leases out its data centers to AI firms and secured a 12-year, $3.5 billion deal with CoreWeave in June 2024 to host their high-performance computing (HPC) operations. While Core Scientific's Q1 revenue fell to $79.5 million from $179.3 million the previous year due to the halving and operational shift, the deal with CoreWeave has revitalized the company. In late June 2025, CoreWeave resumed talks to acquire Core Scientific, further highlighting the value of this AI pivot.
Other Bitcoin miners are also exploring AI opportunities. Hut 8 launched a GPU-as-a-Service offering through its subsidiary, Highrise AI, deploying over 1,000 Nvidia H100 GPUs to provide cloud-based AI compute services. This move was driven by tightening revenues following the April 2024 halving. Similarly, Iren (formerly Iris Energy) has been purchasing Nvidia GPUs and has deployed around 4,300 GPUs as of mid-2025. Iren's AI cloud revenue climbed 33% to $3.6 million in Q3 fiscal year 2025, even as it mined 1,514 BTC.
However, not all Bitcoin miners are embracing AI. Canaan, an ASIC manufacturer, announced in July 2025 that it was shutting down its AI chip division to focus on mining hardware. This demonstrates a divergence in strategy, with some miners fully committing to AI while others remain focused on traditional mining.
AI companies are also finding ways to leverage Bitcoin mining. Companies like Mara Holdings and Riot Platforms are integrating Bitcoin mining into their infrastructure to monetize surplus power from their data centers. Riot Platforms, for example, has invested $1 billion in energy infrastructure for both Bitcoin mining and AI operations and has dedicated 40% of a 400-megawatt power plant in Texas to Bitcoin mining. This synergy allows AI companies to turn unused electricity into income and contribute to energy grid stability.
A Galaxy Digital report highlighted that Bitcoin miners with advanced infrastructure and experienced management teams have a strategic opportunity to expand into the AI and HPC data center market. With the growing demand for AI infrastructure, miners who control energy and cooling resources are well-positioned to support this growth. Moreover, data center operators with lease contracts from high creditworthiness entities can use these contracts to obtain financing for building and expanding their facilities.
This shift towards AI offers Bitcoin miners a chance to achieve more predictable cash flows and higher profit margins compared to the volatile cryptocurrency markets. The valuation gap between Bitcoin miners and data center companies further underscores this potential, as data center companies typically trade at higher multiples of their earnings. By successfully entering the AI market, Bitcoin miners can potentially unlock significant value and lead the next global computing revolution.
