Who would have thought the revenue gap between Bitcoin mining and AI would get this big?
I was a little surprised after reading IREN’s latest earnings report: AI cloud revenue was $200 million, while Bitcoin mining brought in just $28 million—that’s more than seven times less.
The company has already shut down some of its mining rigs and is converting its land, power supply, and facilities into AI data centers.
So here’s the question: if all the mining farms switch to AI, will there be no one left to mine Bitcoin?
I don’t think so.
If more and more miners make this shift, hashrate could fall in the short term, and blocks might take longer to produce. But Bitcoin adjusts its difficulty automatically. With fewer miners, those who remain have a better chance of mining coins. Once profits recover, miners will naturally return.
More likely, the industry will split: mining farms with the cheapest electricity and newest equipment will keep mining Bitcoin, while others with the right conditions will switch to serving AI.
People used to say AI and Bitcoin were competing for chips. Now it looks like what they’re really competing for might be electricity.
When a company can earn seven times more from AI than from mining, it’s only a matter of time before its CEO takes another look at the numbers.
I was a little surprised after reading IREN’s latest earnings report: AI cloud revenue was $200 million, while Bitcoin mining brought in just $28 million—that’s more than seven times less.
The company has already shut down some of its mining rigs and is converting its land, power supply, and facilities into AI data centers.
So here’s the question: if all the mining farms switch to AI, will there be no one left to mine Bitcoin?
I don’t think so.
If more and more miners make this shift, hashrate could fall in the short term, and blocks might take longer to produce. But Bitcoin adjusts its difficulty automatically. With fewer miners, those who remain have a better chance of mining coins. Once profits recover, miners will naturally return.
More likely, the industry will split: mining farms with the cheapest electricity and newest equipment will keep mining Bitcoin, while others with the right conditions will switch to serving AI.
People used to say AI and Bitcoin were competing for chips. Now it looks like what they’re really competing for might be electricity.
When a company can earn seven times more from AI than from mining, it’s only a matter of time before its CEO takes another look at the numbers.
