#BitcoinMiningIndustryUpdates

Bitcoin mining is going through one of the most intense structural shifts it has ever seen. Block rewards are down to 3.125 BTC after last year's halving, and the hashrate just crossed into zettahash territory for the first time in history, peaking near 1.15 ZH/s. More computing power than ever is chasing a smaller per-block reward. That combination has pushed cash costs for some miners well above $100,000 per BTC, and roughly 20% of smaller operators have already capitulated.

The big story, though, is the pivot. Major publicly listed miners are signing multi-billion dollar deals to lease their data center infrastructure to AI and HPC companies. IREN locked in a deal worth nearly $10 billion with Microsoft. Cipher's arrangement with AWS sits at $5.5 billion. Core Scientific famously turned down a $9 billion offer from CoreWeave, betting on a higher valuation on its own. The miners who have leaned hardest into AI are outperforming those who stayed pure-play Bitcoin, and that gap in stock performance has become hard to ignore.

On the hardware side, the generation gap is accelerating. Machines running at 9 to 16 joules per terahash are becoming the new standard. Anything above 25 J/TH is being phased out fast. Electricity is eating roughly half of all revenue across the industry, which is why efficiency is no longer just a competitive advantage, it is a survival requirement.

Geographically, the US holds around 40% of global hashrate, with Texas remaining the center of gravity. The UAE, Oman, Venezuela, and El Salvador have all been growing their share by monetizing stranded or geothermal energy that would otherwise go to waste.

Policy is moving too. The Mined in America Act, introduced in March 2025, is pushing toward certifying domestically produced Bitcoin and phasing out foreign-manufactured hardware, tying mining infrastructure into broader US energy and manufacturing strategy.

The next pressure point is already visible: the 2028 halving. Miners who do not lock in cheap long-term power, upgrade their fleets, or diversify their revenue streams before then will be in a structurally weak position. The industry is consolidating fast, and the window to act is narrowing.