Miners are no longer mining Bitcoin; they are selling electricity to AI.

This is the 2212nd original issue of Plain Blockchain
Author | Cathy
Produced by | Plain Blockchain (ID: hellobtc)

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 paying fees or electricity fluctuations; it’s a real loss—every time you produce a Bitcoin, you’re losing $20,000. 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 choice that surprises the entire market—stop mining and sell electricity to AI.

Specifically, it’s not “stop mining,” but rather emptying the Bitcoin treasury and pouring all funds into AI data centers, turning mining into a side business.

Since Bitcoin’s peak at $126,000 in October 2025, publicly listed mining companies have sold over 15,000 Bitcoins. This isn’t sporadic cashing out; it’s an organized, strategic large-scale retreat.

01

Where did the 15,000 BTC go after the miners collectively sold?

Core Scientific was the earliest and most decisive.

In January 2026, it sold about 1,900 Bitcoins, cashing out $175 million. The plan was to clear all remaining holdings in Q1. This once-bankrupt and restructured mining company is now transforming its Texas mines into high-density AI hosting facilities, aiming to allocate all 1.3 GW of total power capacity to AI.

MARA is even more aggressive. Known for “never selling coins,” it quietly changed its treasury policy in its March 2026 10-K annual report—53822 Bitcoins, fully authorized for sale. At the then-current price, nearly $4 billion worth of assets shifted from “strategic reserves” to “liquid funds” overnight. 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 only entered Bitcoin mining at the end of 2024. By February 2026, it sold 4,451 Bitcoins—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 business, planning to deploy containerized GPU computing nodes across global mines. A car loan company turned miner, then AI inference service provider—such cross-industry shifts are unique to the crypto world.

Bit Deer’s move is more like a calculated chess move. It liquidated its Bitcoin holdings in February. Founder Wu Jihan’s straightforward response: holding zero doesn’t mean forever; liquidity is needed to seize opportunities in electricity and land acquisitions. Unlike other miners, Bit Deer is both clearing out and accelerating—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 has fueled massive expansion in hash rate and infrastructure—decisiveness with “cutting off the flesh” and ambition with “loading the ammunition.”

02

Same electricity, 10 times more valuable for AI

Why are miners selling so uniformly? Because after crunching the numbers, the answer is clear.

Mining is unprofitable, but miners hold one thing everyone is fighting over: electrified land.

After the 2024 halving, Bitcoin mining profitability shrank from over 90% at its peak to breakeven. Meanwhile, AI’s demand for electricity and data centers exploded. According to MarketsandMarkets, the global AI inference market is projected to grow from about $106 billion in 2025 to nearly $255 billion by 2030.

JPMorgan estimates that shifting 1 MW of power from mining to AI hosting can yield over 10 times the valuation premium.

This isn’t exaggerated. AI hosting contracts are typically 10-15 years long, with clients like Microsoft and Meta—stable, predictable cash flows. In contrast, mining income depends entirely on coin prices—and you know how volatile they are.

Wall Street has already invested heavily. JPMorgan has 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” by JPMorgan, while MARA, once a staunch Bitcoin holder, was downgraded due to overexposure to coin price risks.

The message from capital markets is clear: in Wall Street’s eyes, these companies’ value is no longer based on how many Bitcoins they hold, but on how much electricity they control.

03

On-chain indicators suggest the bottom may be near

Miners are selling en masse, and the market is crying out. 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 is approaching above the 60-day, signaling a potential recovery.

The MVRV Z-Score remained between 0.43 and 0.49 in early March. This metric measures the deviation of market price from “realized value.” Historically, when Z-Score falls into 0-1, it almost always indicates a strategic accumulation window.

Puell Multiple dropped to around 0.6, meaning miners’ daily revenue has been compressed to about 60% of the annual average. It’s approaching the 2022 bear bottom of 0.3, indicating 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 after a single-day correction on February 5, realized losses hit a record $3.2 billion.

All four independent indicators flashed red simultaneously—when this happened last time, Bitcoin was forming a bottom.

04

Miner selling might 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 continuous downward pressure. But in 2026, the nature of this selling has changed: after selling Bitcoin, these miners are now earning US dollar revenue 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 JPMorgan, they plan to liquidate only a portion of their remaining holdings (about 2,537 BTC by year-end, most already sold). This is no longer passive “selling to survive,” but active liquidation and reinvestment into AI infrastructure. Once the joint project with Starwood is operational, the $1 billion data center’s cash flow will cover all costs.

In other words, AI-focused miners are shifting from being structural sellers of Bitcoin to becoming neutral or even potential buyers. The largest “natural shorts” in the market are exiting permanently.

Bitcoin mining itself hasn’t disappeared; it’s just changing form. MARA’s hybrid model points the way: mine when electricity is cheap, switch to GPU computing during AI demand peaks. Bitcoin becomes a “flexible load” and “insurance mechanism” for the power grid—AI makes money, mining provides a safety net.

05

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 shut down 31% of its capacity for upgrades. But this is a healthy capacity correction: inefficient miners exit, leaving more efficient, focused players, which actually enhances network security.

This isn’t miners surrendering; it’s the evolution of mining.

As mining becomes a side business and AI takes the main stage, Bitcoin loses a group of forced sellers but gains a healthier supply structure.

Miners have sold all their Bitcoin, but electricity remains.