15-year leases lock miner exit to AI

The public mining sector’s direction remained unchanged by bitcoin’s rebound to about $77,000, per a fresh analysis. CoinShares maintains that the transition toward artificial intelligence infrastructure is practically permanent for firms with existing long-term energy commitments.

Economics fuel this divergence. CoinShares calculates that AI deals now produce roughly $1.5 million per megawatt, versus about $500,000 per megawatt from bitcoin extraction. Luke Nolan, who wrote the study, cited particular agreements that lock in this change.

“Multiple peers have secured locations for AI and high-performance computing leases extending beyond 15 years,” Nolan stated.

Departures are already timed. A minimum of 35 EH/s of processing capability will exit the publicly traded mining firms, matching approximately 4.7% of the network’s present 750 EH/s hashrate. Nearly $42 million was paid by Core Scientific to void a deal covering 15 EH/s of next-generation equipment, while Keel, formerly Bitfarms, ceased mining operations completely in June. TeraWulf is reducing its leftover 145 MW of mining capacity.

New contract lengths are the limiting factor. IREN anticipates finishing its mining exit by late 2026, while Cipher Digital is projected to finish by the end of 2027. Even with better bitcoin prices, CoinShares predicts these firms will maintain their path due to pre-leased infrastructure. The study marks Riot, MARA, HIVE and Bitdeer as operators with flexible models, implying extra mining power from price increases will originate from them instead of the leaving cohort.

Bitcoin’s rebound to near $77,000 raised the hash price to about $38 per PH/s per day, restoring most firms above cash break-even points. This gain fails to counter the structural change from long-term leases, which tie exiting firms to AI infrastructure irrespective of short-term market fluctuations.