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Miners pivot, AI scrutiny
Bitcoin miners’ shift toward AI infrastructure is colliding with investor concerns about governance and insider sales as the AI trade cools, according to Blocksbridge Consulting’s Miner Weekly newsletter.
“Eric Trump’s stake in American Bitcoin has lost more than $600 million in market value, according to Bloomberg calculations”
Cointelegraph says the TEM AI Infrastructure Growth Index, which tracks Bitcoin miners and AI infrastructure companies, has declined 16% over the past month, bringing executive stock sales into sharper focus.
The same Cointelegraph account says executives at TeraWulf, Cipher Digital, Riot Platforms and Core Scientific disclosed stock sales, many executed under prearranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plans.
Cointelegraph also reports that stablecoin issuer Tether trimmed its stake in Bitdeer after the company’s AI-driven rebound, and that investors are shifting attention from the AI growth narrative to “governance and whether the benefits of the tech transition will ultimately accrue to public shareholders.”
In parallel, Cryptonews.net frames the pivot as a structural break for Bitcoin mining, asking whether “Bitcoin hashrate is threatened by the miners' pivot to AI” as hashrate falls and mining economics deteriorate.
Hardware and energy bets
While some miners face scrutiny, Bitdeer says it will build a new manufacturing facility in Nevada to expand US production capacity for its mining hardware and reduce dependence on third-party suppliers.
KuCoin reports Bitdeer’s shares rose 14.1% to $14.33 on Thursday, and says the company plans to assemble its SEALMINER mining machines in Sparks, Nevada.
KuCoin adds that the plant is expected to begin commercial production by the end of the year and includes production of key mining hardware components.
In a separate thread about the broader pivot, Forbes describes Cango’s strategy as “Energy first, Bitcoin second,” with Cango’s senior director of communications Juliet Ye saying the company’s approach is to own energy infrastructure rather than chase mining from day one.
Forbes also says Cango paid $256 million in cash for 32 exahash of Bitmain machines in November 2024, then took another 18 exahash in stock that closed the following summer.
Pricing pressure and stakes
As AI infrastructure spending grows, Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora argues that AI token economics are unsustainable for enterprise adoption and calls for a tenfold price reduction within three to five years.
Crypto Briefing says Arora made the case during a CNBC interview on July 9, building on comments he first delivered on the 20VC podcast on June 22, and that he wants AI token prices to fall to one-tenth of current levels within three to five years.
Crypto Briefing further reports a roadmap that includes a 20% efficiency improvement within the next 12 months and a full 90% reduction in prices within 24 months.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin’s pivot stakes are framed in terms of network security and concentration risk, with Cryptonaute citing a difficulty adjustment on February 7, 2026 of -11.16% and describing it as the largest since the ban on Chinese miners in July 2021.
Cryptonaute also warns that if hashrate continues to contract and the difficulty adjustment lags, “the specter of excessive concentration of computing power among a small number of operators—a prerequisite for a theoretical 51% attack—cannot be entirely ruled out.”
