Crypto Miners Riding the AI Wave Are Leaving Bitcoin Behind

(Bloomberg) — Shares of the large-scale computing outfits that make Bitcoin work are once again outperforming the original cryptocurrency, as more pivot to hybrid models built around artificial intelligence and high-performance computing.

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Long-ago dubbed miners because of the perceived similarities to the mining of traditional commodities such as gold when creating Bitcoin, the companies have often been at the mercy of the volatile price swings experienced by the token. Two years ago, the sector benefitted at the initial start of the AI boom, only to see their share prices tumble the following year as mining profitability declined and competition increased.

Even with the crypto market carnage over the past week, Bitcoin is still up about 14% in 2025, and within striking distance of the all-time high of almost $126,000 reached at the start of the month. Investors have stampeded into the token since the second Trump administration embraced a pro-crypto agenda.

Yet, the biggest winners of this year’s crypto comeback aren’t Bitcoin holders but the miners themselves. A fund tracking listed mining firms has soared more than 150% year-to-date. Unlike during past cycles, when the miners would rally while Bitcoin was gaining, the companies are now being viewed for what they are becoming: tech infrastructure firms.

“Investors are almost exclusively valuing Bitcoin miners for their HPC/AI opportunities at this point,” said John Todaro, analyst at Needham & Co. “We would say less than 10% of our conversations on miners are actually on Bitcoin and mining.”

Cipher Mining Inc. and IREN Ltd. exemplify the trend. Shares in the Nasdaq-listed firms have soared about 300% and 500%, respectively, this year as they pivot from pure Bitcoin mining to AI infrastructure. Earlier in 2025, Cipher signed a 10-year, roughly $3 billion colocation deal with Fluidstack — backed in part by Google — which guaranteed $1.4 billion in lease obligations in exchange for warrants representing a 5.4% stake. The agreement is one of the clearest signals yet that the line between crypto mining and AI computing is blurring.

IREN, meanwhile, closed a $1 billion convertible notes offering on Wednesday. TeraWulf Inc., a US-based miner, also announced plans this week to issue $3.2 billion in senior secured notes to finance an expansion of its Lake Mariner data center in Barker, New York.

Singapore-based Bitdeer Technologies Group, rallied almost 30% on Wednesday after detailing its plans to convert major mining sites into AI data centers, including its 570-megawatt facility in Clarington, Ohio. The company said that in a best-case scenario, full conversion could yield annualized revenue exceeding $2 billion by the end of 2026.

“For Bitdeer, AI/HPC is a complement to mining, not a replacement,” said Jeff LaBerge, vice president of capital markets and strategy at Bitdeer. “We’ll continue leading with efficiency in self-mining and selectively convert qualified sites to AI/HPC where long-term returns are durable.”

The pivot toward AI comes in the wake of last year’s Bitcoin halving, which cut miner rewards from 6.25 to 3.125 Bitcoin. Since then, rising network difficulty and slowing transaction volumes have squeezed profit margins. Even Bitcoin’s recent record highs have offered little relief to miners’ unit economics.

A firm’s pivot to AI-HPC means that they will slow down or pause the expansion of the Bitcoin hashrate — a measure of the total mining capacity of the industry – since part of their power capacity is being reallocated, according to Wolfie Zhao, an analyst at TheMinerMag. He noted that Riot Platforms Inc., IREN, and Bitfarms have already signaled they won’t expand hashrate in the near term.

“The focus is shifting from ‘how much hashrate can we add’ to ‘how efficiently can we utilize our energy footprint,’” Zhao said. With Bitcoin’s hashprice at record lows, the shift was inevitable, marking a phase where mining and computing now share “the same energy economy,” he said.

“The revenue per megawatt and EBITDA margins are far higher for HPC and AI colocation than for mining,” said Needham’s Todaro. With Bitcoin’s volatility and halving risks, he added, “capital markets are rewarding AI-focused data centers with much higher multiples than traditional miners.”

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