Bitcoin Miners at a Crossroads: Gain Market Share or Go All-In on AI?
Bitcoin miners are facing challenges due to reduced profitability following the April halving, which cut mining rewards by 50%. Major miners like MARA Holdings, Riot Platforms, and CleanSpark increased their share of total bitcoin mined in September but saw stock underperformance. In contrast, miners focusing on AI and high-performance computing (HPC), such as Core Scientific and TerraWulf, experienced stock gains of up to 25%. The approval of spot bitcoin ETFs has diminished interest in mining stocks. The Bitcoin network's hashrate reached an all-time high of 693 EH/s, while mining difficulty also hit a record. MARA increased its hash rate by 5% and mined 705 BTC in September, while Riot's bitcoin production rose by 28%. Both companies aim for significant hash rate increases by 2025.
