CoinShares research finds Bitcoin miners are unlikely to return to AI and high-performance-computing hosting even if crypto prices recover, signaling permanent capacity reallocation toward AI workloads.
CoinShares expects the exodus of publicly traded bitcoin miners to the artificial intelligence infrastructure sector to continue even if bitcoin prices recover. "A BTC recovery is unlikely to reverse the AI transition," the firm stated in its Q2 bitcoin mining report published Tuesday.
The commitment to AI proves difficult to reverse. Core Scientific paid nearly $42 million to cancel an agreement for 15 EH/s of next-generation mining hardware, while several other operators have committed sites to AI and high-performance computing leases lasting more than 15 years. At least 35 EH/s of computing power is already scheduled to leave the publicly listed group of miners—roughly 4.7% of Bitcoin's current 750 EH/s network hashrate.
Keel, formerly Bitfarms, stopped mining entirely in June, while IREN plans to complete its exit by year-end 2026 and Cipher Digital is likely to leave the sector by the end of 2027. TeraWulf is also winding down its remaining 145 MW of mining power.
The economics heavily favor AI. CoinShares estimates AI currently generates roughly $1.5 million per megawatt for these companies, compared with about $500,000 per megawatt from bitcoin mining. The average cash cost to produce a bitcoin reached roughly $75,500 in the second quarter, while bitcoin ended Q2 at just $58,400. The monthly average hash price—the revenue miners earn from a single unit of compute power—fell to an all-time low of $27.70 per PH/s per day in June.
Conditions have improved since then. Bitcoin's recovery to around $77,000 has lifted the hash price to around $38 per PH/s per day, pushing most operators back above cash breakeven. Still, CoinShares expects miners who have already committed their power and infrastructure to AI will stay the course.
A sustained bitcoin price rise could improve profitability and may encourage some operators to deploy additional mining capacity, though CoinShares expects that investment to come primarily from miners like Riot, MARA, HIVE, and Bitdeer—companies that have maintained flexible business models.