Bitcoin Miners Shift to AI En Masse: Mining Costs Surpass Price by $20k, Sell BTC to Fund Transition

The Bitcoin mining industry is facing a structural turning point: In Q4 2025, the average mining cost for listed miners reached $80,000 per BTC, while the Bitcoin price hovered around $70,000, leading to a loss of nearly $20,000 per coin and making the profit model unsustainable.

Miners are shifting to AI and high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure, having signed over $700 billion in related contracts. Some companies expect 70% of their revenue to come from AI businesses by the end of 2026. Part of the transition funds comes from selling Bitcoin reserves—listed miners have sold over 15,000 BTC in total.

This trend affects Bitcoin network security: The global network hashrate dropped from 1160 EH/s to 920 EH/s, with consecutive difficulty adjustments. Market valuations are divided: AI-transitioning miners have a valuation of 12.3x future revenue, while pure mining companies only have 5.9x.

Industry insiders believe whether Bitcoin price can return to $100,000 will determine if the mining industry's transition is short-term or permanent.