The economics of crypto mining are shifting. Rising prices, notably for electrical energy and the computational hash price for cryptocurrencies equivalent to Bitcoin, make the mining business much less worthwhile.
Crypto mining corporations are shifting to AI consequently. Why? For starters, AI coaching might present a safer and extra constant income than the risky crypto business.
Why Crypto and AI Firms Are Providing The Finest Returns On Wall Avenue
The crypto market’s inherent volatility makes income unpredictable.
In distinction, AI information facilities provide recurring revenues, which have excessive development and persistently excessive revenue margins.
In the meantime, Bitcoin’s 2024 halving reduce mining rewards in half. That pressured mining corporations to reassess their enterprise fashions.
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Proper now, the economics are compelling. AI information facilities provide dramatically higher returns on the identical infrastructure. They’ll generate as much as 25 instances extra income per kilowatt-hour than conventional crypto mining operations.
Additionally, crypto mining corporations stand in a powerful place to learn from AI demand.
They’ve energy agreements, information heart places, agreements for low-cost electrical energy – a robust recipe for assembly right this moment’s AI demand.
Extra importantly, by shifting to serving AI wants, crypto mining corporations can profit from a better market valuation because the AI story performs out.
Dozens of former Bitcoin mining corporations have begun to repurpose their infrastructure into AI information facilities, turning their GPU-rich, power-intensive setups into rentable compute farms for coaching, inference, and high-performance computing.
As these corporations shift from a Bitcoin or broader crypto play to AI, they’re additionally being handled as AI performs. Consequently, their shares are seeing a better share value and valuation.
With dozens of alternatives within the house right this moment and extra upside forward as information facilities proceed to be constructed out globally, many corporations look enticing as small-cap alternatives amid the AI buildout right this moment.
Hive Digital Applied sciences (HIVE)
HIVE Digital Applied sciences has shifted as a pure crypto play to a twin play on crypto and AI infrastructure.
The corporate has executed a formidable strategic pivot, evolving from bitcoin mining to high-performance computing.
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It’s aiming for a $100 million run price utilizing Nvidia AI chips.
This transformation leverages current infrastructure whereas tapping into the higher-margin AI market.
HIVE Inventory Value Over The Previous Month. Supply: Google Finance
HIVE’s bitcoin mining capability rose 10.4 EH/s by Might 2025, a 58% month-over-month surge, with plans to achieve 25 EH/s by late 2025.
The corporate’s dedication to renewable vitality operations in Canada, Sweden, and Paraguay positions it favorably worldwide—and in areas with plentiful low-cost, environmentally pleasant vitality.
HIVE’s AI growth contains strategic investments in Nvidia GPU clusters, with operations anticipated to scale considerably.
HIVE is a frontrunner in first-mover benefit within the mining-to-AI transition. It holds essential infrastructure like low-cost energy and information facilities.
“The lesson here is that bitcoin miners were the stepping stone for the AI business. They sourced stranded, wasted, and surplus electricity going nowhere. Bitcoin miners went and found a way to extract that energy and create economics out of it. That’s what’s really important. We’re the stepping stone for the great AI boom that we’re experiencing right now,” notes HIVE Govt Chairman Frank Holmes.
Plus, as of August 2025, HIVE boasts a considerable treasury holding of two,201 BTC ($251.73 million worth), permitting it to revenue from Bitcoin’s rise with out the economics of mining for it.
Core Scientific (CORZ)
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Core Scientific is one other firm making the shift from cryptocurrency mining to AI information heart infrastructure.
The corporate expects “a relatively equal split” between crypto mining and AI in 2025, representing “a radical shift from the high volatility bitcoin mining space moving into the data center” enterprise.
Within the meantime, CoreWeave has a definitive settlement to amass Core Scientific in an all-stock transaction valued at roughly $9 billion, considerably greater than the $5.2 billion market cap shares had on the finish of September.
Particularly, Core Scientific stockholders will obtain 0.1235 newly issued shares of CoreWeave Class A typical inventory for every share, with the transaction anticipated to shut by the tip of 2025.
Core Scientific’s transformation is clear in main growth tasks, together with a $1.2 billion growth of an information heart in Denton, Texas, with CoreWeave to assist AI and high-performance cloud computing.
Moreover, the corporate plans new AI information facilities in Georgia, with the primary facility opening by July 2026.
The acquisition might show helpful for buyers, with operational and lease cost financial savings netting over $500 million yearly by the tip of 2027.
This vertical integration eliminates rental funds CoreWeave beforehand made to Core Scientific whereas securing essential infrastructure capability.
It might assist increase valuations as soon as the merger is full, as AI information heart demand continues to develop massively.
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Core Scientific’s established infrastructure, strategic partnerships, and pending acquisition by a number one AI cloud supplier place it advantageously within the multi-trillion greenback AI infrastructure buildout, providing buyers publicity to this transformative technological shift.
REN Restricted (IREN)
IREN Restricted has develop into a momentum inventory in current weeks. Its shares have soared since executing a strategic pivot from bitcoin mining to AI-ready information facilities.
The corporate uniquely combines high-margin bitcoin mining with a strategic shift into inexperienced AI information facilities.
To date, that’s created 128% YoY development, supported by ultra-low vitality prices (3.3¢/kWh) that present a serious aggressive benefit in comparison with different mining-to-AI performs.
The transformation is already producing important returns. IREN’s AI cloud providers now generate $26 million in annualized income, with 1,896 AI-capable GPUs (together with NVIDIA H100/H200) deployed.
Nevertheless, the true development catalyst got here with IREN’s huge $674 million funding in 12,400 new GPUs, doubling AI cloud capability to 23,000 items, which the corporate expects will generate some $500 million in annualized gross sales by early subsequent 12 months.
IREN’s flagship growth, the Horizon 1 facility, is a $300-350 million challenge designed to assist 200kW per rack through direct-to-chip cooling to host Nvidia Blackwell GPUs.
Past this, IREN’s Sweetwater facility represents a 2GW flagship AI & compute hub with capability for greater than 700,000 liquid-cooled Blackwell GPUs.
Shares at the moment are up roughly 300% in 2025 and 400% during the last 12 months.
However with the AI information heart story nonetheless the toast of buyers within the inventory market right this moment, IREN is simply one other crypto mining play shifting with investor demand to the recent story of AI.
