The first cryptocurrency has reached a new all-time high, but miners are facing the toughest economic conditions ever. Their responses include increasing hash rates and diversifying into the AI sector.

Let’s recall what else made 2025 memorable in the Bitcoin mining industry.

  • Bitcoin's hash rate surpassed the significant milestone of 1 ZH/s.
  • The rise in network difficulty and stagnant prices hit the cryptocurrency mining economy hard.
  • "Trump tariffs" did not shake the dominance of the U.S. in mining.
  • Industry participants accelerated their diversification into the AI segment.

Technically, the Network Strengthened Significantly

Hash rate for Bitcoin started the year at around 800 EH/s and reached an all-time high of 1.15 ZH/s (7 DMA) in October. Following the autumn market downturn, the figure corrected but maintained the level of 1 ZH/s achieved at the end of August.

Growth since the beginning of January was about 25%. According to Coin Metrics, a significant contribution came from the mass deployment of Antminer S21 units, which have energy efficiency ranging from 13 to 16.5 J/TH depending on the model. By October, their share of the total hash rate reached approximately 20%.

Meanwhile, the rally in Bitcoin that began after Donald Trump was elected president in November 2024 allowed older ASIC miners like Whatsminer M32 to return to the network. These devices, introduced in August 2020, have an energy consumption ratio of about 50 J/TH. The share of Antminer S9, which debuted in 2017 and has a consumption rate of ~93 J/TH, also began to rise. Together, these ASIC miners generate about 15% of the hash rate.

The global Bitcoin mining fleet is primarily composed of various modifications of Antminer S19, which account for about half of the network's computing power.

The mining difficulty, correlated with the hash rate, reached an all-time high of 155.98 T at the end of October. In this context, MARA Holdings CEO Fred Thiel noted that the industry has entered an extremely challenging period due to increasing competition and declining profitability.

The Most Serious Profit Crisis in Mining

Throughout the year, miners' income generally followed the dynamics of Bitcoin prices. Since July, the share of fees in the total revenue has dropped to less than 1%. Miners' revenue was almost entirely generated from block rewards. Following the halving that occurred in April 2024, this reward is now 3.125 BTC, averaging about 450 BTC per day.

Monthly miner income ranged from approximately $1.19 billion (April) to about $1.63 billion (August).

According to CoinShares, in the second quarter, the average cost of mining one Bitcoin for public miners was about $74,600 in direct costs. Including non-cash expenses such as depreciation and stock-based compensation, this figure rose to $137,800.

Bitcoin's price reached a record high of $126,080 in early October.

The hash price peaked in July at $63.9 per PH/s per day. In the following months, the profitability metric steadily declined under the pressure of rising network difficulty and competition.

As a result, in November, Bitcoin's price fell below $83,000, and the hash price hit an annual low of about $35 per PH/s. Despite a subsequent recovery, it did not rise above $40.

Meanwhile, the median "cost of hash" for public miners in the third quarter was around $44 per PH/s. This figure includes operational costs for equipment, corporate expenses, and financing maintenance. It indicated that even operators with efficient setups and competitive electricity rates were balancing on the edge of profitability.

Experts from TheMinerMag acknowledged that miners are facing the harshest profitability conditions in history.

The payback period for the latest generation of setups has exceeded 1,000 days—significantly longer than the time remaining until the next halving. Around April 2028, the block reward will decrease to 1.5625 BTC.

According to CoinShares' forecast, the hash price will remain in the range of $37–55 until then. A significant increase in Bitcoin's price will be necessary to break out of this corridor, as an increase in hash rate will absorb any moderate price rally. Experts estimate that the network's computing power will reach 2 ZH/s by early 2027.

Commenting on the challenging economic situation in the industry, CoinShares' head of research, James Butterfill, stated:

"In this context, a clear strategic divergence has formed in the industry. An increasing cohort of miners has accelerated their pivot towards AI infrastructure and high-performance computing, seeking to diversify their business away from increasingly competitive and unprofitable Bitcoin mining."

Diversification into AI Gains Momentum

The trend of Bitcoin miners shifting towards servicing the more lucrative AI sector became evident last year. In 2025, this trend expanded, with deals reaching multi-billion dollar volumes.

CleanSpark CEO Matt Schultz noted at the SALT conference in Jackson Hole in August that industry participants used to discuss hash rates, but now they are "talking about how to monetize megawatts." According to TeraWulf CFO Patrick Fleury, even with Bitcoin prices above $110,000 (at that time), electricity costs consume up to half of miners' income.

CleanSpark doubled its annual revenue thanks to AI initiatives. Other companies in the industry have also made significant strides in this direction:

  • TeraWulf signed a 10-year contract with cloud platform Fluidstack worth $3.7 billion. Google acted as a financial guarantor, becoming the largest shareholder of the miner;
  • Cipher Mining entered into a lease agreement with Amazon Web Services (AWS) worth $5.5 billion to support AI computing;
  • IREN will provide Microsoft with cloud services based on graphics processors (GPUs). The total value of the five-year agreement is about $9.7 billion.

One of the oldest public mining companies, Bitfarms, even announced a gradual winding down of Bitcoin mining operations by 2027 in favor of developing AI infrastructure.

Galaxy Digital also decided to completely repurpose its Helios mining center for AI needs as part of an agreement with hyperscaler CoreWeave. At the end of 2022, Mike Novogratz's company acquired the facility for $65 million from the financially troubled Argo Blockchain, becoming a significant player in the hosting market for miners.

Riot Platforms Vice President Josh Kaye stated that the company no longer views mining as an end goal but rather as a means to achieve it. The primary objective is to maximize profits from access to

electricity, including through more profitable business directions.

Even those focused on diversifying into the AI sector continued to increase their hash rate, albeit at different paces.

Year-on-year hash rate growth dynamics for public miners (as of September). Source: TheMinerMag.

Among large public companies, Core Scientific was an exception, as it was targeted for a potential $9 billion acquisition by CoreWeave. The hyperscaler was already a partner of the miner and suggested that after the merger, cryptocurrency mining operations would gradually be phased out. Major shareholders of Core Scientific rejected the deal, considering the valuation too low.

One reason why even miners actively expanding into the AI segment continued to increase their hash rate was the cash flow generated by established cryptocurrency mining. This income helps finance ongoing operations, as repurposing infrastructure requires significant capital investment and time.

CoinShares analysts noted that building and operating a Bitcoin farm typically costs about $700,000 to $1 million per MW, while an AI data center can cost up to $20 million. This substantial difference is due to the requirements for redundancy and reliability needed to achieve 99.99% uptime.

To cover rising costs, both for upgrading mining capacities and modifying infrastructure for high-performance computing, companies actively sought financing. In this context, the total debt of miners increased sixfold over the year—from $2.1 billion to $12.7 billion.

Another reason for maintaining an adequate share of Bitcoin's hash rate for miners was the expectation of potential competition reduction in the event of mass shutdowns of unprofitable miners. In this scenario, profitability for those remaining "in the game" would sharply increase due to a decrease in network difficulty.

The CEO of MARA openly expressed this sentiment. The company's goal is to maintain such a level of mining costs that economic pressure forces at least 75% of competitors to shut down. However, reducing costs under current conditions is a goal for all industry participants—companies are streamlining their balances, cutting corporate expenses, and enhancing the efficiency of their setups. Equipment manufacturers are responding to miners' requests.

ASIC Miner Manufacturers Continued the Technological Race

In May, Bitmain introduced the flagship of its latest series of Bitcoin miners, the Antminer S23 Hydro, with a claimed energy efficiency of 9.5 J/TH. The comparative table below shows how the leading manufacturer has improved this parameter over the past two years.

Energy efficiency of ASIC miners from the last two generations by Bitmain. Source: CoinShares.

In October, a new generation of ASIC miners was showcased by Canaan. The series included two air-cooled models—Avalon A16 (282 TH/s) and Avalon A16XP (300 TH/s). Their energy consumption ratios are 13.8 J/TH and 12.8 J/TH, respectively.

At the beginning of the year, the company also launched the Avalon Mini 3 and Nano 3S devices, which combine Bitcoin mining and heating functions. The Avalon Mini 3 generates a hash rate of 37.5 TH/s and provides up to 800 W of heating power. The Avalon Nano 3S, with 6 TH/s, is a more efficient version of an already released model.

In August, Block, founded by Jack Dorsey, introduced modular installations called Proto Rig for Bitcoin mining. According to the developers, these devices have several advantages, including an extended service life and improved repairability. The solution reduces mining costs by 15–20%.

Bitdeer presented the SEALMINER A3 series installations in September as part of its roadmap. The air-cooled ASIC miner provides a hash rate of 260 TH/s at an energy efficiency of 14 J/TH. The A3 Hydro model has a hash rate of 500 TH/s and an energy efficiency of 13.5 J/TH.

American company Auradine opened pre-orders in November for its third-generation Teraflux installations. According to the statement, the miners are fully developed and manufactured in the United States. In Eco mode, the air-cooled model generates a hash rate of 240 TH/s at an energy efficiency of 10.3 J/TH.

The liquid cooling system provides 600 TH/s and 9.8 J/TH. The immersion version delivers 240 TH/s at the same energy consumption ratio.

In December, MicroBT presented a new series of WhatsMiner M70 miners at the Bitcoin MENA 2025 conference in Abu Dhabi. The series includes three classes based on energy efficiency:

  • 14.5 J/TH (base model M70);
  • 13.5 J/TH (M70S);
  • 12.5 J/TH (M70S+).

Air-cooled installations provide hash rates from 214 TH/s to 244 TH/s.

Immersion cooling options (M76 and M78 modifications) deliver 336-476 TH/s.

Thus, over the past year, all leading Bitcoin miner manufacturers updated their product lines.

In February, it became known that the import issues that arose in the U.S. in the fall of 2024 with Antminer S21 and T21 devices worsened. Customs began to detain products from MicroBT and Canaan, which are also based in China. According to Bloomberg, Bitmain is under investigation by U.S. authorities for potential national security threats.

At the same time, the trend of opening assembly plants in the U.S. continued to expand. This process accelerated after Trump's announcement of "liberation tariffs." Tariffs of 24–36% on goods from Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia, where most ASIC miner production is located, threatened to sharply impact demand from American cryptocurrency miners. In 2024, they imported equipment worth $2.3 billion.

Following Canaan, MicroBT, and Bitmain, Bitdeer also announced localization efforts in the United States.

Some experts speculated that tariff wars could undermine the country's dominance in Bitcoin hash rate, but this did not happen.

Mining Geography Remains Unchanged

By the end of the third quarter, the U.S. share of the global hash rate approached 40%. Russia maintained its second position with 15.5%, while China's share exceeded 14%.

In total, three countries controlled about 67.5% of the network's computing power. However, trends were mixed. Contrary to fears, the United States continued to strengthen its dominance, while Russia gradually lost ground.

The history of mining in China clearly demonstrated that one of the key factors influencing the geography of activity remains access to "cheap electricity." Reuters confirmed that after the country's authorities banned cryptocurrency mining in 2021, it did not cease but went "underground."

After China's share of the global Bitcoin hash rate fell to zero, it gradually recovered. This was largely facilitated by an excess of electricity in former mining centers like the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and Sichuan Province, where owners of remote coal, wind, and hydroelectric plants have no one to sell it to.

Despite experts' concerns about potential miner migration from the U.S. due to "Trump tariffs," hash rates in other jurisdictions did not show significant dynamics. Neighboring Canada maintained a share of about 3%. The top ten included Paraguay (3.9%), Oman (2.9%), and Ethiopia (1.9%).

Not all countries' infrastructures can support the loads associated with cryptocurrency mining. In Kyrgyzstan, an electricity shortage forced authorities to shut down all mining farms. Due to increased loads, the energy-saving regime will last until the end of the heating season.

In Iran, authorities continued their fight against illegal miners—officials reported that over 95% of the 427,000 devices in the country operate without a license.

Prospects for expanding the geography of Bitcoin network support have emerged. In March, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko approved the construction of data centers in the Mogilev region. Pakistani authorities announced plans to direct excess electricity toward cryptocurrency mining and powering data centers for the AI sector.

Turkmenistan's President Serdar Berdymukhamedov signed a law on virtual assets that legalizes mining and cryptocurrency exchanges. The document will take effect on January 1, 2026.

In terms of pools, Foundry USA's leading position (25.7%) confirms the U.S.'s dominance in Bitcoin hash rate. This is complemented by MARA Pool (4.3%) and Luxor (3.2%).

The top three include AntPool (22.1%), affiliated with Bitmain, and F2Pool (13%), also registered in China.

In total, platforms from the two leading Bitcoin mining countries control over two-thirds of the network's computing power.

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The share of revenue from AI services currently constitutes a small part of miners' total revenue, but it will continue to grow as data centers are repurposed. The dynamics of capital expenditures suggest that a significant portion of Bitcoin mining activities may shift back from large data centers, which have dominated in recent years, to smaller facilities.

In a more distributed business model, miners will focus on cheap energy sources that are underutilized by traditional consumers. For example, these could include idle capacities of remote power plants, flare gas at oil fields, and other wasted resources. Participation in balancing energy grids is also a possible option. All this suggests using farms in container form or even mobile trailer formats, ensuring compactness and mobility.

With just over two years until the next halving, it is difficult to expect a significant increase in price and/or on-chain activity during this period, so miners will need to adapt to economic conditions that will become even more challenging after the next block reward reduction.