Rising costs and stricter regulations are driving Bitcoin miners to alternative sources of income

Rising costs and stricter regulations are causing Bitcoin (BTC) mining companies to increasingly look for alternative ways to generate revenue. This is evident from CoinShares’ Q3 report.

A notable trend is the use of mining centers as servers for AI and high-performance computing (HPC) services. These companies make their computing power available to AI services, which pay for it.

Higher costs for BTC mining

The average cost of mining one Bitcoin increased significantly in the second quarter of this year. It costs companies almost $50,000 to produce just one Bitcoin. When depreciation and offsets are also included, the cost actually rises to $96,000. This simply makes it not profitable enough for many companies to rely solely on the proceeds from Bitcoin mining.

Major BTC miners are adapting strategies

Many large BTC mining companies have therefore adjusted their strategies. For example, Core Scientific has entered into a partnership with CoreWeave to make their mining capacity available to Nvidia. Other companies such as Hut 8 and Hive Digital Technologies have also made major investments to make their facilities suitable for the HPC industry.

This diversification trend reflects a major shift in the mining industry. The move to AI and related technologies offers miners the opportunity to improve their technical capacity and provides a more flexible revenue model.

Risks to the Bitcoin Network

While the diversification can help mining companies, the rise of the AI ​​industry also comes with potential risks. If AI services become more lucrative, it could take computing power away from Bitcoin miners, which could compromise the security of the Bitcoin network.