I recently noticed a very interesting phenomenon. The mining farm CoreWeave, originally focused on bitcoin mining, has now shifted to the AI field and achieved great success, even securing an $8.5 billion GPU-backed loan. This scale of loan is unprecedented in the industry, as it is the first time that computer racks have been used as collateral for the largest financing.

This reflects a deep change in the entire mining ecosystem. Going back to the bitcoin mining boom of 2021, when prices fell but hash rates surged, the market quickly collapsed. The resale value of old ASIC miners plummeted, and BTC prices also crashed. But the new generation of GPU hardware is different; Nvidia’s GPUs can be easily repurposed for other uses, especially as AI’s demand for computing power and electricity skyrockets.

Therefore, during this cycle, most miners equipped with the latest hardware have shifted to the AI sector. Some miners were forced to liquidate their BTC holdings to finance their transition, but participants like CoreWeave chose a smarter approach — loans collateralized by GPUs. The emergence of "ComputeFi" has, to some extent, addressed the speculative issues associated with previous bitcoin mining.

Data also shows interesting trends. CoreWeave achieved $5.13 billion in revenue by 2025, with an annual growth rate of 168%. In comparison, some AI-focused players like Marathon earned $907 million, growing 38%, but their Bitcoin holdings during the crypto winter resulted in a $1.3 billion loss.

Why are miners shifting? Mainly because bitcoin mining profits are declining. After the 2024 halving of block rewards and BTC’s correction, daily miner revenue dropped from over $50 million in 2025 to below $40 million in 2026. In such a tough environment, even capable miners find it hard to rely solely on BTC income to transition into AI. In contrast, opportunities and profit margins in AI computing seem more sustainable.

It appears that the era of purely bitcoin mining is indeed changing. More cases like CoreWeave may emerge in the future, using computing hardware as a new financing tool. If this trend continues, ComputeFi could become a new financing paradigm.