Кризис в биткоин-майнинге: доходы падают, компании переходят на ИИ Translation: Headline: Crisis in Bitcoin Mining: Revenues Plummet, Companies Shift to AI

Miners of the first cryptocurrency are currently experiencing the harshest profitability conditions in the industry’s history. This conclusion was reached by TheMinerMag.

In a weekly report, industry experts pointed out that the third quarter began with a hash price of around $55 per PH/s per day. Following a sharp correction in Bitcoin’s value in November, the mining profitability metric plummeted to a “structural minimum” of $35 per PH/s.

“At this level, the stress from declining profitability is no longer theoretical but systemic,” the analysts stated.

According to financial reports from major public miners, the median “hash price” stands at approximately $44 per PH/s. This figure encompasses operational costs for equipment, corporate expenses, and servicing financing. It indicates that even operators with efficient setups and competitive electricity rates are teetering on the brink of breakeven.

The payback period for the latest generation of mining rigs has now exceeded 1000 days—significantly longer than the roughly 850 days left until the next halving. This programmed event will reduce the block reward from the current 3.125 BTC to 1.5625 BTC.

In response to the situation, companies are implementing measures to strengthen their balances, experts noted. CleanSpark opted to completely pay off its Bitcoin-backed credit line with Coinbase just weeks after raising over $1 billion through the issuance of convertible bonds. This move illustrates how quickly miners are shifting toward reducing their debt burden and maintaining liquidity.

The funding dynamics in the third quarter further corroborate this picture. Industry companies raised approximately $3.5 billion through zero-coupon convertible bonds. An additional $1.4 billion was obtained through equity financing.

As the fourth quarter began, circumstances changed. Miners started to raise funds through more expensive senior secured bonds, yielding around 7%. Only Cipher Mining and Terawulf collectively secured nearly $5 billion for the expansion of AI services. This trend suggests that this period could become unprecedented for the industry’s borrowing activities.

“This raises an uncomfortable question: will revenues from high-performance computing and AI scale quickly enough to offset both the hash price crash and the rising debt? Preliminary data shows growth, but it’s still insufficient for the sector to weather several quarters of stagnation in the mining economy. So far, everything points to the fact that the industry is entering a phase of restructuring,” the analysts concluded.

In CryptoSlate reported that as of early November, seven of the ten largest miners by hash rate reported earning revenue from activities in AI or high-performance computing. The remaining three plan to follow suit.

It is worth noting that Bitfarms announced its intention to gradually scale down Bitcoin mining operations by 2027, shifting focus toward developing AI infrastructure.