Original Author: Tiger Research

Original Translation: AididiaoJP, Foresight News

As Bitcoin prices continue to decline, many miners are facing a survival crisis. In the face of increasingly fierce core mining competition, how can these companies save themselves? Renting out artificial intelligence (AI) data centers has become a highly regarded path for transformation.

Core Conclusions

• Bitcoin mining revenue is unstable, while costs continue to rise, making the core business model unsustainable.
• Mining companies are beginning to utilize existing sites and infrastructure to lease data center space to large tech companies.
• This transformation alleviates vicious competition and helps improve the overall health and stability of the industry.

1. Core Operational Risks Faced by Mining Companies

The business model structure of Bitcoin mining companies is relatively singular, which constitutes its fundamental vulnerability. Their revenue is almost entirely tied to the highly volatile Bitcoin price, filled with unpredictability; while the cost side, including increased mining difficulty, rising electricity prices, and hardware iteration, shows a rigid upward trend.

When the price of Bitcoin falls, the problem becomes particularly prominent: revenue sharply decreases, costs remain high, creating a "double squeeze" dilemma. Additionally, regulatory risks loom, such as proposals in New York State to increase mining consumption taxes, which, while having limited impact on mining companies currently concentrated in more lenient areas like Texas, signal potential future compliance pressures.

All of this forces mining companies to consider a fundamental question: can a singular mining business model survive in the long term?

2. Cost Inversion: Weakening Profit Structure

According to CoinShares data, the average cost of mining one Bitcoin has risen to about $74,600. When accounting for costs such as equipment depreciation, the total production cost approaches $130,000 per coin.

However, the current price of Bitcoin is around $91,000. This means that for every Bitcoin produced, mining companies face an approximate loss of $46,000 on their books. The increasing mining difficulty and tightening energy policies further exacerbate the cost structure, leading to a weakening overall profit foundation for the industry.

3. Path to Transformation: Why AI Data Centers?

The heated AI competition has spurred explosive demand for data centers from tech giants. Building data centers from scratch takes time, while market opportunities are fleeting; therefore, leasing ready-made, easily convertible facilities has become the preferred choice.

The existing assets of mining companies perfectly match this demand:

• Computing Hardware: A large number of high-performance GPUs (such as NVIDIA chips) that can be repurposed for AI computing.
• Power Resources: Approved access to hundreds of megawatts of grid power, which is a scarce resource in today's energy market.
• Cooling Capabilities: Experience in managing heat from operating high-power mining machines can be directly applied to managing AI servers like H100/H200.

A typical case is Core Scientific, which was on the brink of bankruptcy but has successfully turned a profit by transforming into an AI data center leasing model, currently operating at about 200 megawatts capacity and planning to expand to 500 megawatts. Companies like IREN and TeraWulf are also exploring similar paths of business diversification. This is not only a pursuit of growth but a necessity for survival.

4. Diverse Evolution: Beyond Data Centers

The transformation to leasing AI data centers is a mainstream trend, but it is not the only path. This is essentially a rational choice for mining companies to reallocate capital to more efficient areas. Stable revenue from data centers can provide cash flow buffers for mining companies, allowing them to strategically hold Bitcoin assets more comfortably and avoid being forced to sell during market downturns.

At the same time, some mining companies, such as Bitmine and Cathedra Bitcoin, are exploring expansion into broader digital asset technology (DAT) business models. These diversification attempts point to a common trend: less competitive pure miners are being eliminated or transformed, leading companies to evolve into comprehensive service providers, and the entire cryptocurrency mining industry is moving towards a more mature and resilient new phase.

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