Writing by: Cathy, Plain Language Blockchain
Mining one Bitcoin costs $87,000. When sold, the market only pays you $67,000.
For each Bitcoin mined, you lose $20,000 net. It’s not just fees or electricity price fluctuations—it’s a real loss, losing $20,000 for every Bitcoin produced. This is the reality as of March 2026. Data from Glassnode and MacroMicro point to the same conclusion: Bitcoin mining, at current prices, is a losing business.
But miners aren’t just sitting around waiting to die. They’ve made a surprising choice—stop mining and sell electricity to AI.
Specifically, it’s not “stop mining,” but emptying their Bitcoin treasury and pouring all funds into AI data centers, turning mining into a side business.
Since Bitcoin’s peak of $126,000 in October 2025, publicly listed mining companies have sold over 15,000 Bitcoins. This isn’t small-scale cashing out; it’s an organized, strategic mass retreat.
Where did the 15,000 BTC go?
Core Scientific was the earliest and most decisive.
In January 2026, they sold about 1,900 Bitcoins, cashing out $175 million. They plan to liquidate all remaining holdings in Q1. This company, which had previously gone bankrupt and restructured, is now transforming its Texas mines into high-density AI hosting facilities, aiming to shift all 1.3 GW of total power capacity to AI.
MARA is even more aggressive. Known for “never selling Bitcoin,” in its 2026 Q1 10-K report, it quietly changed its treasury policy—53822 BTC, fully authorized for sale. At current prices, nearly $4 billion worth of assets shifted overnight from “strategic reserve” to “liquid funds.” Soon after, MARA signed a joint venture with Starwood Capital to deliver 1 GW of AI data center capacity.
The most surprising is Cango. Originally a Chinese auto finance platform, it entered Bitcoin mining only at the end of 2024. By February 2026, it sold 4,451 BTC—60% of its reserves—cashing out $305 million to pay debts and fund AI transformation. It also hired former Zoom executive Jack Jin as CTO of AI operations, planning to deploy containerized GPU compute nodes across global mines. A car loan company turned miner, then AI inference service provider—such cross-industry shifts are unique to crypto.
BitDeer’s move looks like a calculated chess move. In February, it liquidated all its Bitcoin holdings. Founder Wu Jihan explained frankly: “Holding zero doesn’t mean forever; right now, we need liquidity to buy electricity and land.” Unlike others, BitDeer is both selling and expanding—its Bitcoin production in January surged 430% year-over-year, with self-mining hash rate reaching 63.2 EH/s, surpassing MARA to become the largest listed self-mining company. Selling off coins funded massive expansion in hash rate and infrastructure. It’s a bold “cut off the flesh” move with ambitious “reload the ammunition” intent.
Same electricity, 10 times more value for AI
Why are miners selling en masse? Because the numbers tell the story clearly.
Mining is losing money, but miners hold one valuable asset everyone is fighting over: electrified land.
After the 2024 halving, Bitcoin mining profitability shrank from over 90% at peak to breakeven. Meanwhile, demand for electricity and data centers for AI exploded. According to MarketsandMarkets, the global AI inference market is projected to grow from about $106 billion in 2025 to nearly $255 billion in 2030.
Morgan Stanley calculated that shifting 1 MW of power from mining to AI hosting could yield a valuation premium of over 10 times.
This isn’t an exaggeration. AI hosting contracts are typically long-term—10 to 15 years—with clients like Microsoft and Meta, offering stable, predictable cash flow. In contrast, mining income depends entirely on coin prices—which, as you know, can be volatile.
Wall Street has already spoken with real money. Morgan Stanley extended a $500 million loan to Core Scientific, with an option to increase to $1 billion. This isn’t a loan to a “crypto company,” but a credit backing for a “digital infrastructure company.” TeraWulf and Cipher Mining, with successful hybrid models, are rated “overweight,” while MARA, once a steadfast Bitcoin holder, was downgraded due to overexposure to coin price risks.
The message from capital markets is clear: in Wall Street’s view, these companies’ value is no longer based on how many Bitcoins they hold, but on how much electricity they control.
On-chain indicators suggest the bottom may be near
Miners’ collective sell-off has caused market distress. But on-chain data reveals some interesting signals.
Hash Ribbon indicator inverted starting late November 2025, and by February 2026, it had persisted for three months—one of the longest miner capitulation periods in history. The last similar signal was December 2022, when Bitcoin bottomed at $15,500. As of early March, the 30-day moving average approached above the 60-day, signaling a potential recovery.
The MVRV Z-Score stayed between 0.43 and 0.49 in early March. This metric measures how much the market price deviates from “realized value.” Historically, when Z-Score drops into 0–1, it almost always signals a strategic buying window.
Puell Multiple fell to around 0.6, meaning miners’ daily revenue is about 60% of the annual average. Approaching the 2022 bear bottom of 0.3, miners’ profit margins are being squeezed to historic lows.
The most extreme signals come from sentiment indicators. During February’s “Bitcoin Polar Vortex,” the Crypto Fear & Greed Index plunged to 5, and on February 5, a single-day correction caused a $3.2 billion loss—the worst in history.
All four independent indicators flashed red simultaneously. The last time this happened, Bitcoin was forming a bottom.
Miner selling may actually be bullish?
This is the most counterintuitive part of the story.
In the past, miner selling was seen as a bearish signal—these “original sellers” would mine and immediately sell, exerting persistent downward pressure. But in 2026, the nature of the sell-off has changed: after selling Bitcoin, these miners are turning to earn USD from AI.
Think about what this means. Previously, Core Scientific needed to sell hundreds of Bitcoins monthly to cover electricity and operational costs. Now, with long-term contracts with Microsoft and credit lines from Morgan Stanley, they plan to liquidate most remaining holdings (about 2,537 BTC by year-end, most already sold). But this isn’t passive “selling to survive”—it’s active liquidation and reinvestment into AI infrastructure. Once the MARA-Starwood joint project is operational, the 1 GW data center’s USD cash flow will cover all costs.
In other words, AI-focused miners are shifting from being structural Bitcoin sellers to neutral or even potential buyers. The biggest “natural shorts” in the market are exiting permanently.
Bitcoin mining itself isn’t disappearing; it’s just changing form. MARA’s hybrid model points the way: mine when electricity is cheap, switch to GPU compute during AI demand peaks. Bitcoin becomes a “flexible load” and “insurance mechanism” for the grid—AI makes money, mining provides backup.
Summary
In 2025, Bitcoin’s network hash rate just surpassed 1 Zettahash. In the short term, some mines transitioning to AI will slow hash rate growth—Cango, for example, has 31% of its capacity offline for upgrades. But this is a healthy capacity cleanup: inefficient miners exit, leaving more efficient, focused players, which actually enhances network security.
This isn’t miners surrendering; it’s evolution.
When mining becomes a side business and AI takes the main stage, Bitcoin loses a forced seller class but gains a healthier supply structure.
Miners have sold all their Bitcoin, but electricity remains.
