Public bitcoin miners keep leaving for AI
Core Scientific and IREN set year-end exits from mining, and Keel sold every bitcoin it held.
Three listed mining companies made the same move this week: away from bitcoin and toward renting their power and data centers to AI customers.
- Core Scientific said it will stop mining bitcoin by the end of the year. Mining brought in $17.5 million of its $232.9 million third-quarter revenue.
- IREN said its mining revenue fell 58% to $28 million and it aims to be substantially out of bitcoin mining by December 31, 2026.
- Keel, the company formerly called Bitfarms, sold its entire treasury of 2,520 BTC for about $192 million.
Miner stocks fell hard in Thursday's sell-off, with several AI-linked names down 13% to 17%. Hut 8 dropped 23% after a candidate opposed to new data centers won the Texas governor's race.
Why it matters
Bitcoin does not need any single company to keep running. When miners switch off, the network resets its mining difficulty every 2,016 blocks so blocks keep coming about every 10 minutes, and the remaining miners earn a bigger share. Watch who buys the machines these companies retire.
Sources
Not financial advice.