Bitcoin: Why Miners Are Selling Everything to Dive into AI

Bitcoin has been plummeting for weeks and other cryptocurrencies are following the same slippery slope towards the abyss. Together they take investors, big and small, often helpless in the face of violent shocks. Even industry giants sneeze at this difficult situation. Miners, those blacksmiths who keep the blockchain running day and night, are taking a particularly painful hit. Bitcoin mining is hardly profitable today. Worse, this activity now costs more than it brings.

Painful equation: Bitcoin costs $87,000 to mine but sells for $69,000

First, let’s look at the numbers listed on the table in the official reports. MARA Holdings, the world’s largest public miner, mines each bitcoin at an average cost of $87,000. The current price of BTC is barely flirting with $69,000. The subtraction is childishly simple: a net loss on every block verified by his machine.

Furthermore, the hash price, that basic measure of mining profitability, collapsed to $35 per petahash. Unheard of in years in this industry, which is used to roller coasters.

Analyst Shanaka Perera sums up the situation in striking words:

It is not flexible. It’s the math that forces the hand.

To take this further, let’s look at the company’s past cryptocurrency purchases. In 2025, MARA acquired 4,267 Bitcoins at an average price of $111,034 each. These rare sets are now 38% off their original value on paper. The net loss in the fourth quarter is $1.7 billion, which is a staggering number.

The old miner’s creed – “we mine and hold fast” – is dying under the terrible weight of financial news.

Artificial intelligence, the new grail for cryptocurrency miners in need

In the face of this unprecedented economic disaster, an attractive alternative is gradually emerging. Artificial intelligence and high-performance computers are attracting all the attention. Financial arbitrage is too powerful to be ignored. One megawatt dedicated to traditional mining yields a low and declining multiple. The same megawatt dedicated to AI servers can generate three to twenty-five times more revenue.

The calculations are done, the decisions come one after the other. MARA has signed a deal with Starwood Capital, a real estate giant managing $125 billion in assets. The goal is clear: to transform its American sites into next-generation data centers.

Initially, one gigawatt of capacity will be deployed in the territory. Eventually, two to five gigawatts could come to life if all goes well. The miner’s share price rose 17% after this single promising announcement.

Core Scientific, another heavyweight in the crypto sector, is selling all of its bitcoins – about 2,500 – to fund its transformation towards AI. Bitdeer empties its coffers with no apparent remorse. Riot sold 5,363 BTC in the last year. CleanSpark now sells more than it makes, which is a sign of a new era.

The movement is general, massive, probably irreversible in the short term.

Big historic divorce: Bitcoin producers no longer want to keep it

This technological transformation hides a deeper truth about the evolution of the market. It reveals a historical turning point within the entire ecosystem. Shanaka Perera points again with rare clarity:

Entities mining bitcoin no longer want to hold it. The entity holding the most bitcoins has never mined a single one. Production and accumulation are completely separated for the first time in sixteen years.

While miners are selling, Strategy, formerly MicroStrategy, is buying non-stop. 3,015 BTC last week for $67,700. His war chest now stands at 720,737 patiently accumulated bitcoins. He had never mined a single satoshi in his life.

However, it remains a mystery that has greatly intrigued astute observers. MARA wallets identified show only 13,057 BTC on chain. Still, the regulatory filing declares 53,822 real. The difference remains with third parties, outside of the public blockchain. No major movement has been detected by monitoring tools since the shock was reported.

The official document says “we can sell” very clearly. The string says “not yet”. This gap is a real signal to watch in the coming weeks.

Key figures of the mining crisis

• $87,000: the production cost of one bitcoin at MARA versus $68,146 in the current market;
• 3 to 25 times: income generated by one megawatt in AI compared to traditional mining;
• 53,822 BTC: reserves declared by MARA, of which 13,057 are visible on the blockchain;
• $1.7 billion: net loss of the largest miner in the fourth quarter of 2025;
• 720,737 BTC: A strategy treasure that never mined a single satoshi.

Crises are merciless to those who go through them. Not everyone emerges from such hardships unscathed. Last December, Bitmain, the Chinese chip giant, retired its machines at a loss. Faced with collapsing mining, it slashed prices to clear inventories. A sign that the storm spares no one, not even the sacred monsters of the industry.

DISCLAIMER OF LIABILITY

The views, thoughts and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and should not be taken as investment advice. Before making any investment decision, do your own research.