The shift of mining power to AI: potential risks for the crypto market in 2026+

[DrBeer]

Reading the news in 2025, I increasingly encounter discussions about the transfer of computing power from mining to the AI sector.
GPUs, data centers, and cheap energy are becoming key resources — and the competition for them is growing.
I would be interested to hear your opinion:
- How realistic is this scenario for market change?
- Which mining segments could be most affected?
- Could this affect the security and  economy of the networks themselves in 2025–2026?
- What are the economic risks for mining as such?
To clarify, I am not talking about the “end of mining,” I am talking about a tangible redistribution of resources and capital in the context of a rapidly growing AI market and demand for these services.
If there are miners out there, it would be very interesting to hear their opinion!

[Stalker22]

AI companies are in intense competition for computing power and have created enormous incentives to lease that processing capacity from mining operators.  Mining operators already have everything they need to run a data centre from the required infrastructure, equipment, and cheap electricity contracts, to air conditioning and cooling systems.  The vehicle to employ those resources to support AI companies is simply too good an opportunity to avoid and is shaping up to be a significant source of new revenue streams for many established mining operators.

In addition, many large operators have begun to evaluate their current revenue generating capabilities as crypto mining is being eclipsed by other markets such as AI.  For these established operators, to pivot into the AI market should be fairly straightforward.

GPU miners (individual miners who do not mine Bitcoin) are going through the worst of the squeezing.  Since AI uses GPUs to power its processing, the competition amongst GPU miners for hardware is extremely high.  As a result, it is becoming progressively difficult for smaller individuals mining cryptos to remain profitable; however, Bitcoin miners that utilize special hardware (ASICs) are not being affected nearly as much.

[WillyAp]

Mining crypto runs on different beasts.
https://beincrypto.com/learn/best-cryptocurrency-mining-hardware/

[DrBeer]

Mining crypto runs on different beasts.
https://beincrypto.com/learn/best-cryptocurrency-mining-hardware/

No one disputes that mining equipment is different! This fact not requires proof. The issue is slightly different—locations for data centers, electricity, investors. ASICs are certainly a good topic, but if large mining farms do not invest in them, they lack energy and high-tech sites, which is bad for mining.

A few headlines that confirm these concerns:

- American miners are shifting their focus to AI and HPC
A major shift is taking place among the largest Bitcoin mining companies in the US: Riot Platforms, Bitfarms, Core Scientific, and CleanSpark are actively repurposing their facilities for AI and high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure. They are attracting more stable contracts from tech giants (Amazon, Google, Microsoft) and seeking more predictable revenues than mining offers. https://www.wired.com/story/bitcoin-miners-pivot-ai-data-centers

- Efficiency figures and profitability comparison
It is noted that the revenues of data centers for AI can be tens of times higher than the revenues from mining for electricity: according to industry sources, AI centers can generate up to 25 times more revenue per kilowatt-hour compared to Bitcoin mining. https://www.coindesk.com/ru/markets/2025/09/14/ai-mining-news-gpu-gold-rush-why-bitcoin-miners-are-powering-ai-s-expansion

- Mining companies are signing major AI deals
Some mining operators are signing multi-billion dollar contracts with major AI players: one example is the ~$9.7 billion contract between IREN and Microsoft, while TeraWulf is raising funding for data centers with AI workloads. This demonstrates a clear interest of capital in using existing capacity for AI, rather than exclusively for cryptocurrency mining. https://www.thecoinrepublic.com/ru/2025/11/12/%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B8-%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%B9%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%B3%D0%B0-%D0%B1%D0%B8%D1%82%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2-cleanspark-%D1%81%D1%82%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%BC%D0%B8

[goro_chief]

Reading the news in 2025, I increasingly encounter discussions about the transfer of computing power from mining to the AI sector.
GPUs, data centers, and cheap energy are becoming key resources — and the competition for them is growing.
I would be interested to hear your opinion:
- How realistic is this scenario for market change?
- Which mining segments could be most affected?
- Could this affect the security and  economy of the networks themselves in 2025–2026?
- What are the economic risks for mining as such?
To clarify, I am not talking about the “end of mining,” I am talking about a tangible redistribution of resources and capital in the context of a rapidly growing AI market and demand for these services.
If there are miners out there, it would be very interesting to hear their opinion!

As someone who mined GPUs before, this shift makes total sense. AI workloads are more predictable and often more profitable than mining during low-reward periods. A lot of small miners will probs exit or pivot. For networks, short-term security dips are possible, but long-term only the strongest chains will survive. That’s not new in crypto tbh

[The Sceptical Chymist]

Anyone who's read a fair amount of my posts over the years would know that I'm not tech-savvy--never was, and though I've learned a lot thanks to this forum, I'm still nowhere near as knowledgeable as most of you all are.

But as it happens, my next door neighbor is even if he's not so much into crypto, and he was just telling me about the impending RAM shortage and how it might spread to a number of other common computer components (like GPUs), all because of the enormous demand from AI.  And though I never mined bitcoin, I do know ASICs are different than GPUs....but I've also heard stuff about miners turning their attention and electricity at least toward AI-related stuff.

Even if that's all true, I'm not sure how it would affect the markets in particular.  Mining is one thing, right?  But the market is supply and demand.  Supply is pretty much a known quantity, regardless of whether some big miners drop out of the game.  And I don't see any reason why demand should drop because of a diversion of resources (which might turn out to be temporary in any case).

Right now I see AI being used in a lot of places where it shouldn't be, e.g., in place of real-life customer service reps, and other sites seem to have inserted AI functions simply because of silly reasons only the site owners would know, but which are more annoying than they are helpful.  I've got a feeling there is indeed somewhat of an AI bubble, and maybe in 1-2 years' time some of these companies/websites will see the foolishness of their ways and will have scaled back on their AI usage.  Don't know if that'll help with the PC component demand or not, but it couldn't hurt.

Mining crypto runs on different beasts.
https://beincrypto.com/learn/best-cryptocurrency-mining-hardware/

How much you want to bet that article was AI-generated?

[DrBeer]

Reading the news in 2025, I increasingly encounter discussions about the transfer of computing power from mining to the AI sector.
GPUs, data centers, and cheap energy are becoming key resources — and the competition for them is growing.
I would be interested to hear your opinion:
- How realistic is this scenario for market change?
- Which mining segments could be most affected?
- Could this affect the security and  economy of the networks themselves in 2025–2026?
- What are the economic risks for mining as such?
To clarify, I am not talking about the “end of mining,” I am talking about a tangible redistribution of resources and capital in the context of a rapidly growing AI market and demand for these services.
If there are miners out there, it would be very interesting to hear their opinion!

As someone who mined GPUs before, this shift makes total sense. AI workloads are more predictable and often more profitable than mining during low-reward periods. A lot of small miners will probs exit or pivot. For networks, short-term security dips are possible, but long-term only the strongest chains will survive. That’s not new in crypto tbh

I think that small miners will remain in the “business” — they already have equipment purchased with their own money, their costs are not high, and they are not dependent on giant energy suppliers. The only question that remains is that of potential profit. But the big ones depend on investors and on technical and energy supplies, and in very large volumes. Without sponsors, rising prices and competition in the energy market, and with falling prices for mined cryptocurrencies, profits and effective business will be a thing of the past, as profits will be significantly lower than costs.

[Ambatman]

How realistic is this scenario for market change?

Once there's a new technology as big as AIs there's always a change
And a fight for market share. Yes it's realistic up to a certain period.
Most miners just do hybrid not to loss out on Bitcoin returns and as time goes on
The AI market could be saturated and the returns shared may not be appealing like it is now as more miners migrate 

Which mining segments could be most affected?

I would say altcoins like Ethereum classic that still makes use of GPU.
There are quite a bunch of alts that do.

Could this affect the security and  economy of the networks themselves in 2025–2026?

Alright Bitcoin current price isn't really helping matters hence why it seems like hashrate has dropped
From what I can remember it's not really new. If Bitcoin is experiencing such slowness there are miners that switch to alts mining.
I believe it has to be a successful venture in a longer period to pose any real threat to hash rate.

Even if that's all true, I'm not sure how it would affect the markets in particular.  Mining is one thing, right?  But the market is supply and demand.  Supply is pretty much a known quantity, regardless of whether some big miners drop out of the game.  And I don't see any reason why demand should drop because of a diversion of resources (which might turn out to be temporary in any case).

Well it could pose a risk to security in the worse case scenario
Currently majority of miners still dabbling on AI are Hybrids
Now imagine a scenario where majority switch to AI
It would affect the system hash rate after difficulty is adjusted.
Let's not forget what FUDs can really do. But I'm sure it would be temporary
Because with that supply would exceed the demand for AIs.

[WillyAp]

Mining crypto runs on different beasts.
https://beincrypto.com/learn/best-cryptocurrency-mining-hardware/

How much you want to bet that article was AI-generated?

According to https://www.scribbr.com/ai-detector/
0%

[DrBeer]

Reading the news in 2025, I increasingly encounter discussions about the transfer of computing power from mining to the AI sector.
GPUs, data centers, and cheap energy are becoming key resources — and the competition for them is growing.
I would be interested to hear your opinion:
- How realistic is this scenario for market change?
- Which mining segments could be most affected?
- Could this affect the security and  economy of the networks themselves in 2025–2026?
- What are the economic risks for mining as such?
To clarify, I am not talking about the “end of mining,” I am talking about a tangible redistribution of resources and capital in the context of a rapidly growing AI market and demand for these services.
If there are miners out there, it would be very interesting to hear their opinion!

As someone who mined GPUs before, this shift makes total sense. AI workloads are more predictable and often more profitable than mining during low-reward periods. A lot of small miners will probs exit or pivot. For networks, short-term security dips are possible, but long-term only the strongest chains will survive. That’s not new in crypto tbh

It seems that GPU mining, even if it still exists, will also fall victim to high demand for resources such as RAM for video cards. We are already seeing wild price increases and imbalances in supply and demand, and this process is unlikely to stop but will only intensify.
 In the most “positive” scenario, powerful GPUs will simply become very expensive and will also become inaccessible to most people. ASIC-like solutions will suffer from the unavailability or high cost of electricity, on which they are critically dependent.

[WillyAp]

 In the most “positive” scenario, powerful GPUs will simply become very expensive and will also become inaccessible to most people. ASIC-like solutions will suffer from the unavailability or high cost of electricity, on which they are critically dependent.

Why would that happen, AI is much smaller as the big corp like us to believe. 3% pay for its services, all the others have free accounts, similar to the email going on pay service. There are over 25 000 coins, most on ERC 20. so why should miners feel threatened? 10% of 90k is still 9k  3.125 BTC per block, about a 281 250 per block.
 
30 to 40 % of the entire global economy is digital.
People who know a little of Crypto is around 17%.

AI has a error rate of over 50% you need to check all it says.  

[davis196]

Reading the news in 2025, I increasingly encounter discussions about the transfer of computing power from mining to the AI sector.
GPUs, data centers, and cheap energy are becoming key resources — and the competition for them is growing.
I would be interested to hear your opinion:
- How realistic is this scenario for market change?
- Which mining segments could be most affected?
- Could this affect the security and  economy of the networks themselves in 2025–2026?
- What are the economic risks for mining as such?
To clarify, I am not talking about the “end of mining,” I am talking about a tangible redistribution of resources and capital in the context of a rapidly growing AI market and demand for these services.
If there are miners out there, it would be very interesting to hear their opinion!

The economic risk I can think of is one. Growing electricity prices. AI Data centers consume lots of energy. The demand for electricity grows, while the supply remains stagnant. This leads to energy prices going up. Crypto mining relies on cheap energy and the miners having to deal with expensive energy is not a problem, which can be solved easily. Many miners might have to face the problem of moving to another location or dealing with lower profits. One solution would be investing in more solar panels, since solar panels are becoming cheaper and more efficient.
The crypto miners should become independent from the electricity, that comes from the conventional power plants.

[WillyAp]

AI Data centers consume lots of energy.

Which is a no go for mining.
I guess many have already got their own power supplies.

[DrBeer]

AI Data centers consume lots of energy.

Which is a no go for mining.
I guess many have already got their own power supplies.

Microsoft and Meta are purchasing nuclear power plants for the purpose of developing and training AI networks. With such tremendous demand and investment, companies offering AI solutions will readily offer higher prices for electricity, as not everyone can afford to purchase their own nuclear power plant. Mining sites will have to settle for what remains, or significantly more expensive electricity, which accounts for the lion's share of the cost of mining cryptocurrencies.

[DrBeer]

Data centers for AI providers receive enormous amounts of energy, with priority given to decision-making.

OpenAI will receive 1.4 GW of power for its data center, bypassing public discussion
Permission has been granted to supply electricity to the data center, which will be part of the Stargate project
The Michigan Public Utilities Commission has approved the supply of 1.4 GW of power for the OpenAI data center to be built in Saline, Michigan, despite protests from local residents and the lack of public hearings on the project.
The commission's decision was made on an ex parte basis, which excludes the possibility of public discussion of the project with the participation of interested parties and citizens. Initially, the construction of the data center was blocked by the Salin Township Council, which rejected the request to rezone agricultural land. However, the developers challenged this decision in court and obtained a building permit.

[WillyAp]

Microsoft and Meta are purchasing nuclear power plants for the purpose of developing and training AI networks.

MS, Google, Oracle, XAI all have very little to do with mining.
Halving cuts their earnings but they know well in advance.
There was also a mining rig in New York buying a power-plant, 
The Hash power is useless in AI
https://medium.com/@market-news24.com/who-knew-your-precious-crypto-mining-chips-are-useless-for-ai-427a8ca2df38

[Ucy]

I think incentives will mostly determine that.

The profitability of mining Bitcoin could determine whether the GPUs continue to be used for Bitcoin mining or be moved somewhere else, like AI, where their kind of services are needed. And also considering whether moving to AI is more profitable (not necessarily financially) than mining on Bitcoin.

With more computer power for AI,  problems that could take more time to handle become faster.
 It's unlikely that they will easily compete with large AI companies with powerful supercomputers and huge datacenters unless they drastically increase their GPU numbers/power to match their power and be able to have AI that is nearly as fast and attractive to customers that are willing to pay enough for better AI services.
But if that is not easy to accomplish, they can join services that allow GPU owners to pool gpu power together for AI services (this could work better for decentralized AI system).   Or they could simply build their own AI system for private use.

Concerning how this could affect the Bitcoin market and security,  the market will be fine especially if the mining space is saturated and needs to shed some miners to keep things balanced. And Bitcoin will remain secure since there will be honest nodes to prevent any possibile attacks that's due to reduced number of miners

[Cryptomultiplier]

There's so much truth to this discussion because major deals like Hut 8's $7 billion partnership with Anthropic and Core Scientific’s multi-billion dollar contracts with CoreWeave have been implemented as of this late 2025 and we would see  higher margins, long term contracts and other higher advantages that normal miners wouldn't be able to fill up in the coming 2026 market.

[DrBeer]

Microsoft and Meta are purchasing nuclear power plants for the purpose of developing and training AI networks.

MS, Google, Oracle, XAI all have very little to do with mining.
Halving cuts their earnings but they know well in advance.
There was also a mining rig in New York buying a power-plant, 
The Hash power is useless in AI
https://medium.com/@market-news24.com/who-knew-your-precious-crypto-mining-chips-are-useless-for-ai-427a8ca2df38

You probably misunderstood me, or perhaps I didn't express my thoughts very clearly. Let me repeat: I'm not saying that AI will take away miners' mining equipment! It's completely useless to AI, that's a fact!
I'm talking about resources and investments “changing course,” and among these, there are resources that can create problems for mining. More precisely, the lack or reduction of their availability will be a problem for mining. First and foremost, this is electricity. And as we can see, “all doors are open” for AI companies, which is not the case for mining companies. Plus, the decline in the investment attractiveness of cryptocurrency itself (investors are actively transferring money from cryptocurrencies to AI) will lead to the devaluation of cryptocurrency,
 and this causes a chain reaction—low prices in the long term—mining becomes unprofitable or loss-making due to the same very expensive electricity for mining companies.

[WillyAp]

Plus, the decline in the investment attractiveness of cryptocurrency itself (investors are actively transferring money from cryptocurrencies to AI) will lead to the devaluation of cryptocurrency,
 and this causes a chain reaction—low prices in the long term—mining becomes unprofitable or loss-making due to the same very expensive electricity for mining companies.

Most crypto investments are over the big corps ETF.
Mining is not really a target for Investors, they after values and a few follow Saylor's lead and buy bitcoin.
AI is not in competition to Crypto, only the hype followers believe the AI hype priest like the Nvidia, X, Zuck the oracle guy.
All have a lot to loose if AI does not succeed. The are also delusional with their AI plus robotic approach and sending data centers into space. None is talking about the inconvenience of service. Robots also need services and the market is rather small to get a household slave unable to fold a shirt.
So in my eyes there is not a competition. Crypto is a fair space you can only buy a coin if someone is selling one.
Futures and options are a different ballgame.