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Will this rush to AI permanently transform Bitcoin?

7h11 ▪ 4 min read ▪ by Mikaia A.
Getting informed Mining
Summarize this article with:

Bitcoin is plummeting. Traders are crying. But miners, they are really bleeding. The 2024 halving cut their revenues in half. Since the record at 126,000, the price has lost half. So they are looking for a lifeline. Only one emerges on the scene: artificial intelligence. Mining giants now dream of becoming data center providers. Problem: this turn, as spectacular as it is, already smells like reheated news. As if history is stammering.

Miner diverts energy from cracked Bitcoin to incandescent AI brain, 30GW shines, industrial hangar symbolizes profound strategic transformation.

In brief

  • Fourteen public miners announce 30 gigawatts of capacity dedicated to artificial intelligence.
  • Their current installations represent only 11 gigawatts, three times less.
  • HIVE Digital saw its quarterly revenue jump 219% thanks to AI.
  • Activist Starboard Value pushes Riot Platforms to accelerate its transition to AI.

30 gigawatts of promises: can bitcoin miners really feed AI?

The announced figures are dizzying. Fourteen public miners reveal 30 gigawatts of new capacity. Stated goal: to dedicate them to artificial intelligence. This represents three times their current installations, or 11 gigawatts. The equivalent of a small country, jokes TheEnergyMag: «This is the race for megawatts of the AI era».

HIVE Digital leads the way. Its quarterly revenue jumps 219%, driven by AI and high-performance computing. Meanwhile, activist investor Starboard Value pushes Riot Platforms to accelerate its shift. The message is clear: old-school mining no longer fascinates.

There remains a vexing question. These 30 gigawatts, where do they really exist? In pipelines, files, feasibility studies. Some projects have permits and construction sites. Others are just PowerPoint slides. A crucial nuance. Because plugging in cables is not enough. You still have to know what to do with them and who to sell them to.

The Riot case, or how the bitcoin industry sheds its skin each cycle

Riot Platforms perfectly summarizes this permanent balancing act. Before 2017, the company had a different name and operated in biotech. It became Riot Blockchain, then Riot Platforms. Today, it is urged to dive into AI. Each cycle brings its new name, each bull run its new label.

Names and narratives have evolved with the market cycle.

TheEnergyMag. 

The problem is that changing the label does not change the business. Moving from mining to AI infrastructure is not just swapping ASICs for GPUs. It’s a totally different business.

In mining, the formula is simple: electricity, machines, and bitcoin comes out the other end. In AI, you have to sell a service, sign contracts, satisfy clients with high demands.

You can have all the electricity in the world and fail commercially. “You can secure the energy and still fail to deliver a marketable product,” the analysis warns.

So, are these 30 gigawatts announced the next revolution or the next mirage? The answer will belong to those who can turn promises into real data centers, and data centers into real revenue. The others will camp on their paper gigawatts.

Key figures of the transformation

  • 30 GW: capacity promised for AI by 14 listed miners;
  • 11 GW: what they actually have running today;
  • 219%: the increase in HIVE Digital’s revenue thanks to AI;
  • $67,804: the BTC price at the time of writing these lines.

The context does not help. In the United States, a winter storm recently cut mining production by more than 50%. Miners had to unplug, sometimes for several days. The weather also hits where it hurts. Between the wild elements, the bear market, and the frenzied race for AI, the bitcoin industry is undergoing a painful yet necessary transformation. No one can say today who will come out alive.

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Mikaia A. avatar
Mikaia A.

La révolution blockchain et crypto est en marche ! Et le jour où les impacts se feront ressentir sur l’économie la plus vulnérable de ce Monde, contre toute espérance, je dirai que j’y étais pour quelque chose

DISCLAIMER

The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this article belong solely to the author, and should not be taken as investment advice. Do your own research before taking any investment decisions.