Miners collectively shift to AI: mining costs inverted by nearly $20,000, selling Bitcoin to raise $7 billion for hash rate transition

On March 28, news reports indicate that the Bitcoin mining industry is undergoing a structural turning point. By the fourth quarter of 2025, the average mining cost for listed mining companies is expected to rise to around $80,000 per coin, while the Bitcoin price hovers around $70,000, resulting in a loss of nearly $20,000 per coin, making the industry’s profit model increasingly unsustainable.
In this context, mining companies are massively shifting toward artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure. To date, the industry has signed contracts worth over $70 billion related to this transition, with some companies anticipating that by the end of 2026, as much as 70% of their revenue will come from AI business, gradually transforming into data center operators.
The funding for this transformation mainly comes from two sources: first, leveraged financing, and second, the sale of Bitcoin reserves. Data shows that listed mining companies have cumulatively reduced their holdings by over 15,000 BTC, including Core Scientific, Bitdeer, and Riot Platforms, which are continuously selling off their positions to support AI expansion.
However, this trend also poses potential risks to cybersecurity. As miners shift computing power resources, the total Bitcoin network hash rate has decreased from a peak of approximately 1160 EH/s in 2025 to around 920 EH/s, with a series of difficulty adjustments occurring.
Market pricing has also become differentiated: mining companies with AI business are valued at about 12.3 times their future revenue, while pure mining companies are only valued at 5.9 times, indicating a clear capital shift toward AI transformation.
Industry experts believe that whether Bitcoin’s price can return to $100,000 will be a key variable in determining whether mining represents a “short-term transformation” or a “permanent change.”