The Bitcoin (BTC) network hashrate sits about 50% below its growth trend after a six-month decline, while miners redirect power and capital toward more lucrative AI infrastructure.
Key Points:
- Bitcoin hashrate is about 50% below trend after its first six-month decline since China’s 2021 mining ban.
- CoinShares estimates AI compute can generate about $1.5 million per megawatt annually, compared with roughly $500,000 for Bitcoin mining.
- Higher Bitcoin prices could improve mining economics, although some operators have already committed infrastructure to AI.
Bitcoin Hashrate
Digital asset manager CoinShares said in its second-quarter mining report that Bitcoin’s hashrate is roughly 50% below its expected growth trend. The decline is the network’s first six-month contraction since China’s 2021 mining ban, although the report said similar post-halving pullbacks have occurred in earlier cycles.
Mining costs remained high despite weaker competition, with the weighted average ex-tax cash cost among listed miners reaching about $75,500 per Bitcoin in the second quarter. Bitcoin ended the quarter at $58,400, leaving several operators near or below cash breakeven.
Core Scientific showed how far the shift has gone, paying $41.9 million to cancel about 15 EH/s of next-generation mining hardware from Block’s Proto division. The company prioritized data-center conversion while other miners also reduced Bitcoin exposure or redirected power toward high-performance computing.
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CoinShares Outlook
Luke Nolan, who wrote the report, said public miners are pursuing a “lucrative and seemingly secular tailwind” in artificial intelligence rather than abandoning Bitcoin because of a network failure. He also said growing restrictions on new U.S. data centers have increased the value of sites that already have power and infrastructure.
CoinShares estimates AI compute can produce about $1.5 million in annual profit per megawatt, compared with about $500,000 from Bitcoin mining.
The report said a sustained rise in Bitcoin’s price could “alter this calculus dramatically” and encourage some operators to move capacity back into mining.
The latest contraction is the first six-month hashrate decline since China’s 2021 mining ban, but CoinShares said comparable gaps from trend have appeared in previous post-halving cycles. Hashrate has already recovered from earlier 2026 lows, while the next Bitcoin halving is expected in 2028.
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