The economics of crypto mining are shifting. Rising costs, particularly for electricity and the computational hash rate for cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, make the mining industry less profitable.
Crypto mining companies are shifting to AI as a result. Why? For starters, AI training could provide a safer and more consistent source of revenue than the volatile crypto industry.
Why Crypto and AI Companies Are Offering The Best Returns On Wall Street
The crypto market’s inherent volatility makes revenue unpredictable.
In contrast, AI data centers offer recurring revenues, which have high growth and consistently high profit margins.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin’s 2024 halving cut mining rewards in half. That forced mining companies to reassess their business models.
Right now, the economics are compelling. AI data centers offer dramatically better returns on the same infrastructure. They can generate up to 25 times more revenue per kilowatt-hour than traditional crypto mining operations.
Also, crypto mining companies stand in a strong position to benefit from AI demand.
WHY ARE CRYPTO MINERS SUDDENLY AN AI PLAY?$IREN $WULF $HUT $MARA $RIOT $CIFR $CORZ all shifting from mining coins to leasing out power, GPUs, and datacenters for AI compute.
Here’s why I think it is:
POWER IS THE NEW CURRENCY
The real treasure isn’t $BTC, it’s electricity.… pic.twitter.com/xTnMjgbzmk— Sam Badawi (@samsolid57) August 17, 2025
They have power agreements, data center locations, agreements for low-cost electricity – a powerful recipe for meeting today’s AI demand.
More importantly, by shifting to serving AI needs, crypto mining companies can benefit from a higher market valuation as the AI story plays out.
Dozens of former Bitcoin mining firms have begun to repurpose their infrastructure into AI data centers, turning their GPU-rich, power-intensive setups into rentable compute farms for training, inference, and high-performance computing.
As these companies shift from a Bitcoin or broader crypto play to AI, they’re also being treated as AI plays. As a result, their stocks are seeing a higher share price and valuation.
With dozens of opportunities in the space today and more upside ahead as data centers continue to be built out globally, many companies look attractive as small-cap opportunities amid the AI buildout today.
Shark Tank’s famous ‘Mr. Wonderful’ Kevin O’Leary talks about his crypto strategy and Bitcoin outlook in the latest BeInCrypto podcast.@kevinolearytv explains his current investment positions, stake in @bitzerodotcom, and much more👀 https://t.co/w4rF5RGtkr
— BeInCrypto (@beincrypto) September 5, 2025
Hive Digital Technologies (HIVE)
HIVE Digital Technologies has shifted as a pure crypto play to a dual play on crypto and AI infrastructure.
The company has executed an impressive strategic pivot, evolving from bitcoin mining to high-performance computing.
It is aiming for a $100 million run rate using Nvidia AI chips.
This transformation leverages existing infrastructure while tapping into the higher-margin AI market.
HIVE Stock Price Over The Past Month. Source: Google Finance
HIVE’s bitcoin mining capacity rose 10.4 EH/s by May 2025, a 58% month-over-month surge, with plans to reach 25 EH/s by late 2025.
The company’s commitment to renewable energy operations in Canada, Sweden, and Paraguay positions it favorably worldwide—and in areas with plentiful low-cost, environmentally friendly energy.
HIVE’s AI expansion includes strategic investments in Nvidia GPU clusters, with operations expected to scale significantly.
HIVE is a leader in first-mover advantage in the mining-to-AI transition. It holds critical infrastructure like cheap power and data centers.
“The lesson here is that bitcoin miners were the stepping stone for the AI business. They sourced stranded, wasted, and surplus electricity going nowhere. Bitcoin miners went and found a way to extract that energy and create economics out of it. That’s what’s really important. We’re the stepping stone for the great AI boom that we’re experiencing right now,” notes HIVE Executive Chairman Frank Holmes.
Plus, as of August 2025, HIVE boasts a substantial treasury holding of 2,201 BTC ($251.73 million value), allowing it to profit from Bitcoin’s rise without the economics of mining for it.
Core Scientific (CORZ)
Core Scientific is another company making the shift from cryptocurrency mining to AI data center infrastructure.
The company expects “a relatively equal split” between crypto mining and AI in 2025, representing “a radical shift from the high volatility bitcoin mining space moving into the data center” business.
In the meantime, CoreWeave has a definitive agreement to acquire Core Scientific in an all-stock transaction valued at approximately $9 billion, significantly higher than the $5.2 billion market cap shares had at the end of September.
Specifically, Core Scientific stockholders will receive 0.1235 newly issued shares of CoreWeave Class A common stock for each share, with the transaction expected to close by the end of 2025.
CORZ Price Chart Over The Past Month. Source: Google Finance
Core Scientific’s transformation is evident in major expansion projects, including a $1.2 billion expansion of a data center in Denton, Texas, with CoreWeave to support AI and high-performance cloud computing.
Additionally, the company plans new AI data centers in Georgia, with the first facility opening by July 2026.
The acquisition could prove beneficial for investors, with operational and lease payment savings netting over $500 million annually by the end of 2027.
This vertical integration eliminates rental payments CoreWeave previously made to Core Scientific while securing critical infrastructure capacity.
It could help boost valuations once the merger is complete, as AI data center demand continues to grow massively.
Core Scientific’s established infrastructure, strategic partnerships, and pending acquisition by a leading AI cloud provider position it advantageously in the multi-trillion dollar AI infrastructure buildout, offering investors exposure to this transformative technological shift.
REN Limited (IREN)
IREN Limited has become a momentum stock in recent weeks. Its shares have soared since executing a strategic pivot from bitcoin mining to AI-ready data centers.
The company uniquely combines high-margin bitcoin mining with a strategic shift into green AI data centers.
So far, that’s created 128% YoY growth, supported by ultra-low energy costs (3.3¢/kWh) that provide a major competitive advantage compared to other mining-to-AI plays.
The transformation is already generating significant returns. IREN’s AI cloud services now generate $26 million in annualized revenue, with 1,896 AI-capable GPUs (including NVIDIA H100/H200) deployed.
However, the real growth catalyst came with IREN’s massive $674 million investment in 12,400 new GPUs, doubling AI cloud capacity to 23,000 units, which the company expects will generate some $500 million in annualized sales by early next year.
IREN Stock Price Chart Over The Past Month. Source: Google Finance
IREN’s flagship development, the Horizon 1 facility, is a $300-350 million project designed to support 200kW per rack via direct-to-chip cooling to host Nvidia Blackwell GPUs.
Beyond this, IREN’s Sweetwater facility represents a 2GW flagship AI & compute hub with capacity for more than 700,000 liquid-cooled Blackwell GPUs.
Shares are now up roughly 300% in 2025 and 400% over the last 12 months.
But with the AI data center story still the toast of investors in the stock market today, IREN is just another crypto mining play shifting with investor demand to the hot story of AI.
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