Record-breaking net, shrinking wallet
The Bitcoin network hit an all-time high with a daily hashrate of 1,279 ZH/s. The 7-day average also exceeded 1 ZH/s for the first time. While this picture brings security to the top, a different story is being written on the miners’ front: Rewards are down, costs are up. The result? Miners get a smaller slice of the same pie.
The new reality after Halving
Halving is in Bitcoin’s DNA: restrict supply, increase scarcity, support the price in the long run. But in the short term, it creates a harsh reality for miners: Work more, earn less. The rising hashrate also signals new giants joining the game – competition is increasing, so new strategies are needed to survive.
What are miners doing?
There used to be one goal: more machines, cheaper electricity, more Bitcoin. This formula alone is no longer enough. Miners are looking for new revenue streams.
Pivot to AI and HPC
Mining facilities are essentially giant energy and cooling centers. This infrastructure is perfectly suited for artificial intelligence and high-performance computing (HPC). Miners are equipping their facilities with GPUs and renting them to AI companies or partnering with them. Instead of “just mining Bitcoin”, “training AI models” is now a serious alternative income stream.
Miners entering the energy business
Many companies are becoming energy producers, not just consumers. They are developing models that generate their own electricity through wind, solar or natural gas, and even sell it back to the grid. This reduces costs and generates extra income from the energy market.
Selling heat
The heat emitted by ASIC devices doesn’t have to go to waste. Some companies have started selling this heat to district heating projects. Especially in cold climates, this not only creates a “green energy” story but also generates additional income. This turns the cost of cooling, which is actually a disadvantage, into an income, a very well thought out model. Examples are,
Marathon Digital – Finland pilot
A 2 MW data center has been built in the Satakunta area of Marathon, and the waste heat from it is connected to a district heating system and used to heat 11,000 households. In other words, the heat that is supposed to be expelled after Bitcoin mining is being utilized.
Integration of MARA at Two Locations in Finland
The same company has already integrated the heat released by Bitcoin mining into existing district heating systems in Finland through its senior projects. It joins the hot water/heating network with heat pumps and heat circuits.
MinersLoop & Calefa – “Waste Heat” Project
In Seinäjoki, Finland, there is a facility called MinersLoop, a data center in cooperation with Calefa. They sell the waste heat from mining to the district heating network using technologies such as + heat pump + oil bath cooling. In other words, both technically and physically, the “miner selling heat”.
Points / Limitations
- Most of these projects are at the “pilot” or “trial/small scale” level: we cannot say that all-in, every plant is selling heat.
- The appropriate geography for selling heat is very important: cold climate, existing district heating infrastructure, proximity of pipelines…
- Heat is usually not at high temperature – in some cases it is at medium temperature, which can restrict some areas of heat use.
- There are also obstacles such as capital, permits, technical integration, regulatory approvals.
Data center & colocation
Some miners are also opening some of their facilities to others. They create a fixed rent model for companies that need GPUs, servers or private data centers by saying “come use our infrastructure”. This provides a more stable cash flow alongside volatile crypto revenues.
Of course, walking these new paths is not easy. AI pivot requires large capital, energy projects can get stuck in regulation, heat sales are geography-dependent. But every risk is also an opportunity. With the right location, the right partnership and the right strategy, anyone can monetize not just Bitcoin but a whole range of other sectors.
From miner to energy and data giant
Today’s transformation is actually evolving mining companies into much more than Bitcoin producers. They are energy providers, AI data centers, even part of city heating infrastructure… In other words, Bitcoin mining is breaking out of its shell and expanding into large areas of the technology and energy sector.
In short, while hashrate is breaking records, the story of miners is evolving. Some will simply cling to their ASICs and shrink and melt away, while others will strike the right balance and become giants of the future.
