#Gate广场五月交易分享 The Truth About the Crowded Venue of 40k People: Bitcoin Is Still Frenzied, But Money Has Moved to AI
At the end of April 2026, the Venetian Convention Center in Las Vegas remains bustling with activity. On stage, is a familiar, almost template-like “faith celebration.” Michael Saylor loudly proclaims that Bitcoin should be pushed to 10 million dollars;
Arthur Hayes sets a year-end target of $125k;
Eric Trump directly calls out a $1 million target.
Rare appearances by regulators—
Paul Atkins and Mike Selig both show up, and White House advisor Patrick Witt even signals a policy move to “strategic Bitcoin reserves” in advance. Everything seems to be telling you:
Bitcoin has never been more “mainstream.” But as soon as you step outside the main conference hall into the exhibition area, you immediately realize—the story has changed.
1. Faith Still Exists, But Buyers Are Gone
The official say that 40,000 people attended this year. The number is fine, the atmosphere is fine. But the structure has changed.
Exhibitors’ feedback is remarkably consistent:
“More people, but no clients.”
The most people at booths are not buyers, but spectators;
Not those signing deals, but those learning.
Compared to the “bull market expo” of 2025, the visible change this year is: effective conversion of foot traffic has declined.
The attendance at regular forums has sharply decreased, the number of exhibitors has dropped, and the business atmosphere has cooled significantly. In one sentence: last year, “clients were looking for mining machines,” this year, “mining machines are looking for clients.”
A more subtle signal is hidden in the sponsor list.
Traditional mining brands are still there, but the new keywords are now: AI, data centers, computing infrastructure. Money hasn’t disappeared; it’s just shifted narratives.
2. The True Main Characters at the Booths: Not Mining Machines, but “Electric Power”
If in the past Bitcoin conferences focused on “hashrate,”
This year, the real competition is about something else: who can control more electricity.
Mining machine manufacturers are still present—
Bitmain continues to showcase new-generation equipment;
Bitdeer directly writes “Bitcoin Mining & AI Cloud” on their display boards.
Mining companies are also there, but their messaging has completely changed—
CleanSpark no longer emphasizes coin production but “electricity optimization”; even infrastructure providers no longer mention “mining farms,” but instead: modular data centers.
From Intelliflex to Moonshot, everyone is doing the same thing: redefining mining farms as AI server rooms.
3. The True Migration: From “Mining” to “Selling Hashpower”
This is not just a conceptual shift but a thorough capital migration.
In the first quarter of 2026, a brutal reality confronts all mining companies: the cost of a single Bitcoin approaches $80k, hashrate prices hit historic lows, mining profits are thoroughly squeezed, and continuing to mine is just to maintain cash flow;
The real profits are on the other side.
So, large-scale shifts have begun: North American miners have signed over $70 billion in AI computing contracts, data center leasing profits reach 2.5 times those of mining, and AI business revenue is expected to hit 70% by year-end. The most extreme example is Bitdeer—
They’ve directly emptied their Bitcoin reserves, going all-in on AI.
And MARA Holdings is even more aggressive:
Selling BTC, buying land, locking in electricity, and building AI data centers.
The logic is very simple: Bitcoin determines price, AI determines cash flow. And the only underlying asset they share is: electricity. Whoever controls electricity, controls the next round of hashpower pricing.
4. America’s Problem, Solved by China’s Supply Chain
But the transition isn’t easy.
Traditional AI data center construction takes 3–5 years,
While the market window is only a few months. At this moment, an “outlier” begins to attract attention.
Modular data centers.
Represented by Fourier, China’s solution offers a completely different path: deployment in just a few months with standardized modules that can be directly reused for mining infrastructure. For capital holding GPUs but lacking server rooms, this isn’t just optimization—it’s a lifeline.
The core truth is: AI is racing against time, not technology.
5. Those Who Stay Are the True Miners
If the story only ends here, the conclusion would be quite bleak: Bitcoin is being “bled dry” by AI. But reality is more complex. In the corner of the expo, you can still see another group—those who are precisely calculating electricity prices, pool fees, machine efficiency;
They compare energy costs across different regions;
They seek overlooked mining resources. Players like BitFuFu are not all-in on AI. They choose: refined operations to improve efficiency, control costs, and wait for a market cycle reversal. Their judgment is: only when speculative capital leaves will Bitcoin truly start to be priced.
And on the other side of the exhibition hall, American families visit the Bitcoin zone, children gather around mining machines and Lightning Network demo devices, asking curious questions. This scene is actually more important than any price forecast. Faith hasn’t disappeared; it’s just temporarily unprofitable.
Bitcoin 2026 isn’t as hot on the surface, nor as cold as it looks. The real change happening is: hashrate is being re-priced. In the short term, AI is swallowing the mining industry; in the long term, Bitcoin is detaching from speculation. After this migration, two types of people will determine the future:
One, those who control electricity; and
Two, those who still believe in Bitcoin.
As for who will win? Maybe the answer has long been written in the two spaces of this conference—on stage is faith, off stage is business.
At the end of April 2026, the Venetian Convention Center in Las Vegas remains bustling with activity. On stage, is a familiar, almost template-like “faith celebration.” Michael Saylor loudly proclaims that Bitcoin should be pushed to 10 million dollars;
Arthur Hayes sets a year-end target of $125k;
Eric Trump directly calls out a $1 million target.
Rare appearances by regulators—
Paul Atkins and Mike Selig both show up, and White House advisor Patrick Witt even signals a policy move to “strategic Bitcoin reserves” in advance. Everything seems to be telling you:
Bitcoin has never been more “mainstream.” But as soon as you step outside the main conference hall into the exhibition area, you immediately realize—the story has changed.
1. Faith Still Exists, But Buyers Are Gone
The official say that 40,000 people attended this year. The number is fine, the atmosphere is fine. But the structure has changed.
Exhibitors’ feedback is remarkably consistent:
“More people, but no clients.”
The most people at booths are not buyers, but spectators;
Not those signing deals, but those learning.
Compared to the “bull market expo” of 2025, the visible change this year is: effective conversion of foot traffic has declined.
The attendance at regular forums has sharply decreased, the number of exhibitors has dropped, and the business atmosphere has cooled significantly. In one sentence: last year, “clients were looking for mining machines,” this year, “mining machines are looking for clients.”
A more subtle signal is hidden in the sponsor list.
Traditional mining brands are still there, but the new keywords are now: AI, data centers, computing infrastructure. Money hasn’t disappeared; it’s just shifted narratives.
2. The True Main Characters at the Booths: Not Mining Machines, but “Electric Power”
If in the past Bitcoin conferences focused on “hashrate,”
This year, the real competition is about something else: who can control more electricity.
Mining machine manufacturers are still present—
Bitmain continues to showcase new-generation equipment;
Bitdeer directly writes “Bitcoin Mining & AI Cloud” on their display boards.
Mining companies are also there, but their messaging has completely changed—
CleanSpark no longer emphasizes coin production but “electricity optimization”; even infrastructure providers no longer mention “mining farms,” but instead: modular data centers.
From Intelliflex to Moonshot, everyone is doing the same thing: redefining mining farms as AI server rooms.
3. The True Migration: From “Mining” to “Selling Hashpower”
This is not just a conceptual shift but a thorough capital migration.
In the first quarter of 2026, a brutal reality confronts all mining companies: the cost of a single Bitcoin approaches $80k, hashrate prices hit historic lows, mining profits are thoroughly squeezed, and continuing to mine is just to maintain cash flow;
The real profits are on the other side.
So, large-scale shifts have begun: North American miners have signed over $70 billion in AI computing contracts, data center leasing profits reach 2.5 times those of mining, and AI business revenue is expected to hit 70% by year-end. The most extreme example is Bitdeer—
They’ve directly emptied their Bitcoin reserves, going all-in on AI.
And MARA Holdings is even more aggressive:
Selling BTC, buying land, locking in electricity, and building AI data centers.
The logic is very simple: Bitcoin determines price, AI determines cash flow. And the only underlying asset they share is: electricity. Whoever controls electricity, controls the next round of hashpower pricing.
4. America’s Problem, Solved by China’s Supply Chain
But the transition isn’t easy.
Traditional AI data center construction takes 3–5 years,
While the market window is only a few months. At this moment, an “outlier” begins to attract attention.
Modular data centers.
Represented by Fourier, China’s solution offers a completely different path: deployment in just a few months with standardized modules that can be directly reused for mining infrastructure. For capital holding GPUs but lacking server rooms, this isn’t just optimization—it’s a lifeline.
The core truth is: AI is racing against time, not technology.
5. Those Who Stay Are the True Miners
If the story only ends here, the conclusion would be quite bleak: Bitcoin is being “bled dry” by AI. But reality is more complex. In the corner of the expo, you can still see another group—those who are precisely calculating electricity prices, pool fees, machine efficiency;
They compare energy costs across different regions;
They seek overlooked mining resources. Players like BitFuFu are not all-in on AI. They choose: refined operations to improve efficiency, control costs, and wait for a market cycle reversal. Their judgment is: only when speculative capital leaves will Bitcoin truly start to be priced.
And on the other side of the exhibition hall, American families visit the Bitcoin zone, children gather around mining machines and Lightning Network demo devices, asking curious questions. This scene is actually more important than any price forecast. Faith hasn’t disappeared; it’s just temporarily unprofitable.
Bitcoin 2026 isn’t as hot on the surface, nor as cold as it looks. The real change happening is: hashrate is being re-priced. In the short term, AI is swallowing the mining industry; in the long term, Bitcoin is detaching from speculation. After this migration, two types of people will determine the future:
One, those who control electricity; and
Two, those who still believe in Bitcoin.
As for who will win? Maybe the answer has long been written in the two spaces of this conference—on stage is faith, off stage is business.
