Bitcoin miners’ profitability is under pressure as the price of BTC falls and energy costs remain high. Many are attempting a pivot toward AI and HPC, but this risky transition could weaken the ecosystem if it fails or if the tech bubble were to burst.
Bitcoin miners in trouble as profitability drops and investments shift to HPC
With Bitcoin’s price down 30% from its October 2026 highs, the Bitcoin mining industry is struggling, causing a 15% drop in the blockchain’s hashrate.
The drop in the price of BTC is increasing pressure on miners’ profitability, forcing them to choose between continuing to mine at a loss in the hope of a future rebound or shutting down their least efficient machines. According to estimates, the average cost of producing a Bitcoin now exceeds $90,000 in certain regions of the world.
At the same time, since the surge in interest around artificial intelligence, Bitcoin miners have begun a gradual migration toward this new sector—which is theoretically more profitable—investing heavily in high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure.
However, according to KBW, this transition is far from easy and involves significant investments, as well as an uncertain return on capital and considerable technical complexity.
Bitcoin hashrate over the past 3 years
Caught between energy costs, debt, and a shift in their business model, miners are entering a phase of natural selection. Only the most resilient—those with access to cheap energy or capable of successfully pivoting to AI—may survive this period.
In the short term, this dynamic could lead to a continued decline in the hashrate, making the network more vulnerable to 51% attacks. Nevertheless, even with a 50% drop in the hashrate, Bitcoin would remain one of the most secure networks in the world, returning to a hashrate equal to 2024 levels, which were already considered very robust at the time.
