Bitcoin miners have already signed contracts worth the equivalent of 150 billion dollars related to artificial intelligence, according to Bernstein. These agreements cover more than 7.5 gigaw
Bitcoin miners have already signed contracts worth the equivalent of 150 billion dollars related to artificial intelligence, according to Bernstein. These agreements cover more than 7.5 gigawatts of electrical capacity and span several years. Behind this massive figure, the mining sector is changing its business: it now sells its megawatts to data centers as much as it produces BTC.
Bitcoin mining companies have a rare asset: sites already connected to powerful electrical networks. This positioning explains why miners benefit from the rise of AI, whereas tech groups struggle to quickly secure new energy capacities. Building an AI data center from scratch requires land, permits, power lines, cooling systems, and sometimes several years of waiting.
Miners have already done part of this work to run their ASIC machines. Hyperscalers and cloud operators sometimes prefer to rent these infrastructures or sign long-term agreements. For them, gaining a few months on the timeline can be worth several billion dollars.
The figure advanced by Bernstein must be read precisely. It does not correspond to revenues already received by miners. It represents the estimated value of contracts concluded over periods that can reach ten, fifteen, or twenty years. This distinction avoids turning a real industrial trend into an instant jackpot. The companies involved will still have to build the buildings, install the equipment, finance the work, and meet high availability commitments.
Your 1st cryptos with CoinbaseThis link uses an affiliate program.Halving regularly reduces the amount of bitcoin paid to miners for each validated block. At the same time, competition increases and older machines become less profitable. Diversification towards AI therefore seems less like a whim and more like an industrial response. Some agreements, however, give an idea of the scale. Hut 8 signed a fifteen-year lease valued at 9.8 billion dollars. TeraWulf reportedly concluded a twenty-year contract likely to generate nearly 19 billion. IREN also announced several billion dollars in cloud agreements.
These contracts offer rare visibility in mining. Bitcoin revenues depend on BTC price, hashrate, electricity cost, and halvings. AI contracts promise more predictable payments, provided the sites are delivered on time.
Several groups no longer present themselves solely as BTC producers. They talk about digital infrastructures, high-performance computing, cloud, and data centers. Their value now depends as much on their megawatts as on their bitcoin reserves.
This change attracts Wall Street, but also raises questions. The miners’ shift towards AI demands a lot of capital. Some companies may need to go into debt, issue new shares, or sell part of their BTC to finance the work. The risk of dilution then becomes real for shareholders. A multibillion-dollar announced contract can impress, but its profitability depends on construction cost, financing, and the client’s solidity.
This transformation offers a new source of revenue but creates a delicate trade-off. A megawatt devoted to GPUs is no longer available for bitcoin mining. If AI becomes much more profitable, some operators could permanently reduce their mining activity.
A significant drop in power devoted to the network could temporarily slow hashrate growth. The protocol would then adjust its difficulty, but the geographic and economic distribution of miners could change.
The sector must also avoid becoming dependent on a few technological clients. A twenty-year contract seems solid. Yet a breach, delay, or payment default could leave an expensive infrastructure without an immediate outlet.
The 150 billion dollars therefore signal a profound transformation, not a guaranteed win. Miners have a concrete energy advantage. They must now prove that they know how to build and operate data centers as well as they know how to secure Bitcoin. This promise already explains why miners’ stocks now react to AI news as much as to BTC movements.
