Here’s a number that should reframe how you think about Bitcoin mining: AI data centers can generate roughly $25 per kilowatt-hour in revenue. Bitcoin mining pulls in about $1. That’s a 25x revenue gap that explains why some of the biggest names in crypto mining are sprinting toward artificial intelligence workloads.
Listed Bitcoin miners are now collectively pursuing more than $70 billion in AI data center contracts, according to a CoinShares report. The same report projects that AI-related revenue could balloon from around 30% of total miner revenue to as much as 70% by the end of 2026.
The infrastructure advantage nobody saw coming
Bitcoin miners spent years doing the hard, unglamorous work of securing exactly what AI data centers need: massive power contracts, large tracts of land, cooling infrastructure, and the regulatory approvals to operate energy-intensive facilities. Getting all of those in place can take years. Miners already have them.
Texas offers perhaps the clearest illustration of this dynamic. Large-load power requests in the state surged to 226 GW in 2025, and a staggering 73% of that demand is attributed to AI.
