Crypto miners turn to AI and HPC to offset the decline

Bitcoin has been plummeting for several weeks now and other cryptos are following the same slippery slope toward the abyss. Together, they take investors, both small and big, often helpless in the face of violent shocks. Even the industry giants sneeze in this difficult context. Miners, these blacksmiths who keep the blockchain running day and night, take particularly painful hits. Extracting bitcoins hardly yields anything today. Worse, this activity now costs more than it brings in.

The painful equation: mining bitcoin costs $87,000 but sells for $69,000

First, let’s look at the figures laid out on the table by official reports. MARA Holdings, the world’s largest public miner, extracts each bitcoin at an average cost of $87,000. The current BTC price barely flirts with $69,000. The subtraction is childishly simple: a net loss on every block validated by its machines.

Next, the hashprice, this essential measure of mining profitability, has collapsed to $35 per petahash. Unprecedented for years in this industry, which is used to rollercoasters.

Analyst Shanaka Perera summarizes the situation with striking words: 

It is not flexibility. It is math forcing the hand. 

To drive the point home further, let’s examine the company’s past crypto purchases. In 2025, MARA had acquired 4,267 bitcoins at an average price of $111,034 each. These precious sats are now down 38% on paper from their initial value. The net loss in the fourth quarter is $1.7 billion, a staggering figure. 

The old miners’ credo – “we extract and hold closely” – is dying under the terrible weight of the financial reports.

Artificial intelligence, the new Grail for crypto miners in distress

Faced with this unprecedented economic disaster, an attractive alternative is gradually emerging. Artificial intelligence and high-performance computing are drawing all the attention. The financial arbitrage is far too powerful for anyone to ignore. One megawatt dedicated to traditional mining yields a low and decreasing multiple. The same megawatt dedicated to AI servers can generate three to twenty-five times more revenue. 

The calculations are done, decisions come one after another. MARA signs with Starwood Capital, a real estate giant managing $125 billion in assets. The goal is clearly stated: to transform its American sites into next-generation data centers. 

Initially, one gigawatt of capacity will be deployed on the territory. Ultimately, two point five gigawatts could come to life if all goes well. The miner’s stock price rose 17% on this single promising announcement. 

Core Scientific, another heavyweight in the crypto sector, sells all its bitcoins – about 2,500 – to finance its transformation towards AI. Bitdeer empties its treasury without apparent qualms. Riot has sold 5,363 BTC over the past year. CleanSpark now sells more than it produces, a sign of new times. 

The movement is general, powerful, probably irreversible in the short term.

The great historic divorce: bitcoin producers no longer want to keep it

This technological transformation hides a deeper truth about the market’s evolution. It reveals a historic break within the entire ecosystem. Shanaka Perera, again, dots the i’s with rare clarity: 

Entities mining bitcoin no longer want to hold it. The entity holding the most bitcoin has never mined a single one. Production and accumulation are totally decoupled for the first time in sixteen years.

While miners sell, Strategy, the former MicroStrategy, buys without stopping. 3,015 BTC last week at $67,700 each. Its war chest now reaches 720,737 bitcoins accumulated patiently. Never mined a single satoshi in its life, yet.

However, a mystery remains that strongly intrigues keen observers. MARA’s identified wallets show only 13,057 BTC on chain. The regulatory filing nonetheless declares 53,822 real ones. The difference rests with third parties, outside the public blockchain. Since the shock announcement, no major movement has been detected by monitoring tools.

The official document says “we can sell” very clearly. The chain says “not yet” for now. This gap is the real signal to watch in the coming weeks.

Key figures of the miners’ crisis

• $87,000: production cost of one bitcoin at MARA, versus $68,146 on the current market;
• 3 to 25 times: revenue generated by one megawatt in AI compared to traditional mining;
• 53,822 BTC: reserves declared by MARA, of which 13,057 are visible on the blockchain;
• $1.7 billion: net loss of the largest miner in the fourth quarter of 2025;
• 720,737 BTC: Strategy’s treasure, which has never mined a single satoshi.

Crises are ruthless for those going through them. Not everyone comes out unscathed from such ordeals. Last December, Bitmain, the Chinese chip giant, dumped its machines at a loss. Facing the collapse of mining, it slashed prices to clear stocks. A sign the storm spares no one, not even the sacred monsters of this industry.