Bitcoin miners pivot to AI compute as crypto rewards shrink

The computing power that once secured the Bitcoin network is being unplugged and rewired for artificial intelligence. Companies that built their businesses on mining the cryptocurrency are now converting warehouses full of specialized hardware into AI data centers, drawn by steady revenue from tech firms racing to expand their AI infrastructure.

The shift follows a sharp decline in Bitcoin's value from its October 2025 peak of about $124,000, which squeezed mining rewards. Although Bitcoin has rallied to around $80,000 in August, up almost 30% for the month, many miners are not turning back. Refitting a crypto mine for AI is expensive, and once the transition is made, reversing it is costly.

Several large miners have signed long-term compute deals with Anthropic, the AI company spending billions on infrastructure. Riot Platforms agreed to a $9 billion, 20-year deal earlier this month, while Bitdeer announced a 16-year agreement. Other companies redirecting resources include TerraWulf, Ionic Digital, Core Scientific, Iris Energy, and Hut 8.

The rebranding extends to company websites. TerraWulf, once described as an "infrastructure-focused bitcoin mining company," now says it focuses on "next-generation AI and high-performance computing." The industry publication The Miner Mag has changed its name to The Energy Mag to reflect the trend.

In Kazakhstan, Enegix opened a large Bitcoin mining site in 2020 but is now planning to align its energy and infrastructure capabilities toward AI development. Chief executive Yerbolsyn Sarsenov said the company is in active discussions with AI and high-performance computing firms and plans to transform a significant portion of the business.

Some companies have sold portions of their Bitcoin holdings to fund the conversion. Wolfie Zhao, an analyst at The Energy Mag, expects public miners to keep winding down Bitcoin hardware in coming quarters. He noted that once a multi-gigawatt power infrastructure is retrofitted for AI colocation, there is no turning back: a 10- or 20-year GPU colocation lease means steady revenue and a commitment to keep the infrastructure running.

Not every miner is abandoning Bitcoin entirely. Bitdeer's chief strategy officer, Haris Basit, said the company will continue mining and believes many operators will pursue a dual-purpose model. Bitcoin mining is flexible and interruptible, he said, while AI workloads provide longer-duration contracted revenues.

The pivot raises questions about the security of the Bitcoin network if enough miners leave. Zhao said he hopes more miners will enter the market as conditions improve, but predicted that many big players will not easily switch back.