The Bitcoin mining industry is experiencing one of the most fundamental transformations in its history. The clearest indicator of this change is not classical indicators such as hashrate or difficulty settings, but rather financial statements. According to the latest report, the average cash cost of publicly traded bitcoin mining companies increased to approximately 80 thousand dollars to produce one bitcoin in the fourth quarter of 2025. On the other hand, the price of bitcoin fluctuates between 68 and 70 thousand dollars. According to the current table, it was calculated that approximately 19 thousand dollars were lost per coin.
Artificial intelligence contracts stand out in the industry
Industry players are turning to a serious transformation in the face of this unsustainable situation. Now the priority of bitcoin mining companies has shifted to artificial intelligence and advanced processor infrastructures with the promise of high efficiency and stable cash flow. The total amount of AI and high-performance computing contracts announced by public mining companies exceeded $70 billion, while Core Scientific’s expanded deal with CoreWeave alone totaled $10.2 billion, and TeraWulf’s contracted HPC revenue reached $12.8 billion. Hut 8 signed a 15-year, $7 billion lease for artificial intelligence at its River Bend facility. Cipher Digital signed a billion-dollar agreement with Fluidstack.
With these new agreements, the share of artificial intelligence in public miners’ revenues is rapidly increasing. It is currently estimated that this rate is around 30 percent, and may rise to 70 percent by the end of 2026. 39 percent of Core Scientific’s data center revenues, 27 percent of TeraWulf’s revenues and 9 percent of IREN’s revenues come from artificial intelligence; IREN is continuing to build 200 megawatts of liquid-cooled GPU capacity for rapid scaling in this area.
Economic pressure and financing methods are changing
The hash price, which is considered the main indicator of mining revenues, fell to the lowest level after the halving in the range of 28–30 dollars in mid-2026. Companies that continue production at these prices need to keep the cost of electricity per kilowatt-hour below 0.05 dollars to be profitable. On the other hand, contracts made with artificial intelligence infrastructure have a profit margin of over 85 percent and long-term income guarantee.
The methods of miners financing this transformation also attract attention. On the one hand, debt is increasing rapidly. IREN carries a total of $3.7 billion in convertible debt across five different series. TeraWulf’s total debt reached $5.7 billion. Cipher Digital, on the other hand, issued bonds worth $1.7 billion in the fourth quarter of last year alone, and its quarterly interest burden jumped from $3.2 million to $33.4 million.
On the other hand, mining companies’ bitcoin sales also accelerated. In total, more than 15 thousand bitcoins were disposed of from the treasury. Core Scientific sold approximately 1,900 bitcoins in January, generating $175 million in revenue, and plans to sell almost all of its assets in the first quarter of 2026. Bitdeer sold all its bitcoins in February. Riot Platforms sold 1,818 bitcoins in December. Marathon is the largest publicly traded miner with 53,822 bitcoins in hand; With the regulation he made in March, he authorized the sale of his entire treasury.
All these developments show that bitcoin mining companies are increasingly turning into data center operators. With the transformation of the sector, the USA, China and Russia came to control approximately 68 percent of the global hashrate, while emerging markets such as Paraguay and Ethiopia began to stand out.
In addition, new generation devices with low energy consumption, such as Bitmain’s S23 series and Bitdeer’s SEALMINER A3 model, are expected to be commissioned at scale in the first half of 2026. However, due to the high installation cost of these devices, many companies direct their capital primarily to artificial intelligence infrastructure.
