Gate News reports that on March 16, the surge in electricity demand from AI data centers has sparked intense discussions about whether this will weaken Bitcoin mining and impact the security of the Bitcoin network.
Crypto trader Ran Neuner pointed out that AI has become Bitcoin mining’s biggest competitor, as both heavily rely on electricity resources. Data shows that Bitcoin mining generates approximately $57 to $129 in revenue per megawatt of electricity, while AI data centers can earn $200 to $500 per megawatt, up to about 8 times more than mining.
As a result, several mining companies have begun to expand into AI businesses: Core Scientific recently secured a credit line of up to $1 billion for AI hosting services; MARA Holdings filed documents with the U.S. SEC, hinting at the possible sale of some Bitcoin to fund AI transformation; Hut 8 signed a $7 billion AI infrastructure deal with Google last December; Cipher Mining has also reduced computing power to invest in AI computing. Additionally, Bitmain co-founder Wu Jihan is believed to have stopped mining and shifted focus to AI.
Neuner believes that if miners continue to exit, the decline in Bitcoin’s hash rate could increase the risk of a “51% attack” on the network. Currently, Bitcoin’s total network hash rate has fallen about 14.5% from its peak in October last year.
However, Bitcoin early developer and cryptographer Adam Back holds a different view. He stated that even if some miners shift to AI, Bitcoin’s difficulty adjustment mechanism will automatically lower mining difficulty, increasing profitability for remaining miners and attracting hash power back to the network.
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