FROM PROOF OF WORK TO PROOF OF COMPUTE
Why #Bitcoin miners are abandoning their ASICs for AI.
What you are about to read is my opinion based on data.
Bitcoin's ROI is drying up.
By the end of 2025, the total cost of mining 1 BTC (including equipment renewal) will be around $130,000. With such tight margins and network difficulty at historic highs, buying the latest generation of ASICs is no longer the obvious move for capital.
The real asset is energy. Miners have discovered that their greatest treasure is not their machines, but their energy contracts and electrical substations. In a world hungry for computing power, having gigawatts ready to use is like having liquid gold.
But what yields more per watt?
AI. The neighbor who pays better.
While Bitcoin mining depends on market volatility, AI offers 10-year hosting contracts with fixed income. It is estimated that 1 kWh dedicated to AI generates between 15 and 20 times more value than that same kWh dedicated to mining satoshis.
From warehouses to high-tech clouds.
The transition is not easy.
Miners are moving away from buying “Antminers” to investing in fiber optics and liquid cooling. They are converting rustic warehouses into High Performance Computing (HPC) data centers capable of housing Nvidia Blackwell racks.
And whether you like it or not, Bitcoin is traded on the stock market, not only because of ETFs but also because the big mining companies are owned by bankers.
Wall Street dictates the verdict. The markets are rewarding this change.
Companies such as Core Scientific and IREN have seen their valuations skyrocket after announcing deals with AI giants.
The message from investors is clear: they prefer the predictability of AI to the roller coaster of hash prices.
A Bitcoin ASIC is a chip designed to do one thing: solve the SHA-256 algorithm. It's like a hammer that only works for one type of nail. It cannot process the matrix and tensor calculations required by AI (such as ChatGPT or Llama).
AI needs GPUs (and CPUs): To generate AI power, miners have to buy completely new hardware (mainly Nvidia GPUs). Old ASICs cannot be “reprogrammed”; if they are not suitable for mining, they become electronic scrap or are sold to countries with extremely cheap energy (such as Ethiopia or Paraguay).
What we are seeing is that companies are becoming hybrid:
-Bitcoin as a “cushion”: They mine BTC when energy is cheap or when they don't have AI customers lined up.
-AI as a “premium”: They lease their power to tech companies for long-term contracts.
The end of mining?
No, but its transformation.
Bitcoin is becoming a “network balancing” tool: data centers will mine when there is excess energy or when AI does not need it.
The future of the sector is no longer just crypto, it is the infrastructure that supports the entire digital economy.
Sources:
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JPMorgan says bitcoin miners are decoupling from the bitcoin price as they pivot to AI | The Block

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