The $3.5B shift: How Bitcoin miners are cashing in on AI

Key Points

1. The 2024 Bitcoin halving reduced block rewards to 3.125 BTC, cutting miners’ income by half and prompting exploration of alternative revenue sources like AI.

2. Core Scientific signed a $3.5 billion contract with CoreWeave, an AI cloud computing company, boosting investor confidence despite a drop in Bitcoin mining revenue.

3. Hut 8 launched Highrise AI, a subsidiary offering GPU-as-a-Service, while maintaining its Bitcoin mining operations, holding 10,273 BTC as of mid-2025.

4. Hive and Iren are adopting hybrid models, combining Bitcoin mining with AI compute, with Hive targeting $100 million in AI revenue by 2026.

5. Riot Platforms and Marathon Digital (MARA) are exploring AI opportunities while maintaining strong Bitcoin mining operations, with MARA holding 50,000 BTC.

6. Canaan closed its AI chip division to focus on advancing mining hardware, holding only 2.1% of the global ASIC market.