Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said Bitcoin mining costs are split roughly evenly between hardware and electricity, while AI inference costs are almost entirely hardware-related. A cost table shared by Buterin totals roughly $93,700 per Bitcoin, above Bitcoin's current price and JPMorgan's recent $85,000 production cost estimate. AI operators can likely absorb higher electricity prices than miners can as both industries compete for power sites. Some industry voices question whether AI could push mining out of the most expensive sites entirely.