Bitcoin Miners Pivot to AI Amid Halving Challenges

Bitcoin miners, anticipating the 2024 halving which reduced block rewards to 3.125 Bitcoin (BTC), turned to the rising trend of artificial intelligence (AI). Some miners made cautious investments, while others made significant commitments, repurposing rigs, securing credit, and signing billion-dollar deals. The outcomes of these AI pivots have varied, with some miners finding it a lifeline for generating revenue amidst declining Bitcoin earnings, and others viewing it as a safety net against future halving impacts.

Core Scientific stands out as one of the most successful stories among Bitcoin miners who pivoted to AI. The company, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in late 2022, emerged in early 2024 and shifted from pure Bitcoin mining to a colocation service provider. It signed a 12-year, $3.5-billion deal with CoreWeave in June 2024 to host CoreWeave’s high-performance computing (HPC) operations. Despite a revenue drop to $79.5 million in Q1 2025, a surge in Bitcoin’s price since the halving has offset some of the losses. In late June 2025, CoreWeave resumed talks to acquire Core Scientific, following a failed $1-billion buyout attempt in 2024, which sent Core Scientific’s stock soaring.

Hut 8, another major Bitcoin miner, launched its GPU-as-a-Service offering through a new subsidiary, Highrise AI, in September 2024. The company deployed over 1,000 Nvidia H100 GPUs to drive its cloud-based AI compute services. By Q1 2025, Hut 8’s Bitcoin mining had produced 167 BTC, down from 716 BTC the year before. Despite a quarterly net loss of $134.3 million, the company’s CEO, Asher Genoot, attributed the financial performance to deliberate investments that resulted in a 79% increase in its hashrate. Hut 8 continues to expand its Bitcoin business, with American Bitcoin, a majority-owned subsidiary, announcing a $220-million raise to purchase Bitcoin mining equipment.

Iren and Hive are among the Bitcoin miners starting to see meaningful revenue from AI. Iren began purchasing Nvidia GPUs in early 2024 and signed its first AI contract powered by 248 GPUs by February. By mid-2025, the company had deployed around 4,300 GPUs. In Q3 fiscal year 2025, Iren mined 1,514 BTC, up from 1,232 BTC the previous quarter, while its AI cloud revenue climbed 33% to $3.6 million. Hive, which began its AI shift in mid-2023, invested $30 million in December 2024 to roll out GPUs in Quebec, Canada. By mid-2025, it had over 5,000 units deployed, generating $115.3 million in revenue, with $10.1 million from AI and HPC hosting, making up nearly 9% of total revenue.

Riot Platforms and MARA Holdings, two of the largest names in Bitcoin mining, are also laying the groundwork for a post-mining future. Riot began exploring AI and HPC workloads in early 2025, launching a formal evaluation to convert up to 600 megawatts at its Corsicana, Texas facility into high-performance infrastructure. Riot remains financially strong in Bitcoin, mining 1,530 BTC in Q1 2025 and generating $142.9 million in mining revenue. MARA, which holds the largest Bitcoin treasury among miners, revealed its MARA 2PIC700 immersion cooling system designed for dense compute workloads, including AI and crypto mining. By early 2025, MARA began piloting two HPC test sites, each handling around 30 megawatts using its 2PIC700 cooling system.

While many Bitcoin mining firms are leaning into AI and high-performance computing, ASIC manufacturer Canaan is heading in the opposite direction. In July 2025, the company announced it was shutting down its AI chip division. With just 2.1% of the global ASIC market, Canaan remains a small player compared to Bitmain or MicroBT. By focusing squarely on mining hardware and pursuing long-term resilience in North America, it’s carving a distinct path in a sector otherwise enamored with AI.