Bitcoin miners signed $100 billion in AI contracts generating $1.1 billion annual revenue
Bitcoin miners have signed contracts worth over $100 billion for AI and high-performance computing work, yet are collecting barely $1.1 billion in annualized revenue from these deals. The gap between signed agreements and functioning infrastructure has created a valuation premium that investors are now testing against the miners’ ability to actually build out the capacity.
- Miners signed more than $100 billion in AI contracts while generating only $1.1 billion annualized revenue from those deals.
- More than 4 gigawatts of AI and HPC capacity are under contract across publicly traded miners, but only about 550 megawatts currently billing.
- Miners with contracted AI capacity trade at 12.9 times enterprise value to next-12-months sales, versus 3.7 times for miners without such agreements.
- $100B+ Total value of signed AI and HPC contracts across publicly traded Bitcoin miners
- 4 GW Megawatts of AI and HPC capacity under contract versus 550 MW currently billing
- 12.9x EV-to-NTM sales multiple for miners with contracted AI versus 3.7x without
- $38 Bitcoin hash price per petahash per second per day as of latest reporting
Bitcoin miners have accumulated more than $100 billion in signed agreements to provide artificial intelligence and high-performance computing capacity, yet the sector is generating barely $1.1 billion in annualized revenue from these contracts, according to research by CoinShares. The disparity reflects a widening gap between what miners have promised to deliver and what they are actually deploying. More than 4 gigawatts of AI and HPC capacity sit under contract across publicly traded miners, while only about 550 megawatts are currently generating revenue. The story was first reported by CryptoSlate.
Investors are assigning a steep valuation premium to this unfulfilled backlog.
Mining companies with contracted AI or HPC capacity trade at an average of 12.9 times enterprise value to next-12-month sales, compared with just 3.7 times for miners without such agreements. That multiple spread reflects confidence in the transition’s economics: AI infrastructure currently generates an estimated $1.5 million in annualized profit per megawatt for miners, roughly three times the $500,000 available from Bitcoin mining under present conditions.
Grid-Connected Power Becomes The Miners’ Hidden Asset
The value of existing mining campuses is rising as new data center projects face extended permitting delays and increasingly congested power grids across the United States. CoinShares recorded at least 225 moratoriums or restrictions on data center development across 30 states, with 151 still in force. New York introduced a statewide pause on environmental permits for facilities of 50 megawatts or more, while restrictions have spread at state and county levels nationwide.
These constraints have created a bottleneck. The US grid interconnection queue contains roughly 2,600 gigawatts of pending projects, with those completed in 2025 waiting a median of more than five years between entering the queue and becoming operational. Miners with already-energized land and existing grid connections now possess a competitive advantage over developers starting from scratch. A recent transaction cited by CoinShares valued three fully leased Northern Virginia AI data centers at roughly $27 million per megawatt, while some publicly traded miners with energized but unleased capacity are valued below $3 million per megawatt, despite the high conversion costs.
Retrofitting Bitcoin mining sites for AI work requires $8 million to $15 million per megawatt compared with $700,000 to $1 million per megawatt for pure Bitcoin mining infrastructure.
Miners Abandoning Bitcoin To Accelerate The AI Transition
The financial incentive to exit Bitcoin mining has become strong enough that some operators are absorbing losses and terminating equipment contracts to redirect infrastructure toward AI customers. Core Scientific paid $41.9 million during the second quarter to terminate an agreement covering about 15 exahashes per second of next-generation Bitcoin mining equipment. Its remaining self-mining business posted a negative 56 percent gross margin during the period.
Keel Infrastructure, formerly Bitfarms, shut down its remaining Bitcoin mining operations on June 29 and is expected to report no mining revenue in the third quarter. Despite abandoning its core business, the company’s share price rallied 194.4 percent during the second quarter, one of the clearest examples of investors rewarding the transition away from Bitcoin. IREN plans to substantially complete its move away from mining by December 31 after recording hundreds of millions of dollars in impairments and markdowns on mining equipment. Its revenue mix has already flipped, with AI cloud revenue reaching $70.5 million in its latest quarter, surpassing the $66.7 million generated from Bitcoin mining for the first time.
CoinShares estimates that at least 35 exahashes per second is scheduled to leave publicly listed miners as those conversions continue, equivalent to roughly 4.7 percent of the Bitcoin network’s recent 750 exahash per second hashrate. IREN accounts for 23.2 exahashes per second of installed capacity, while Cipher’s Odessa operation contributes another 11.6 exahashes per second. TeraWulf is separately winding down roughly 145 megawatts of remaining mining capacity while those contracts account for 71 percent of its quarterly revenue.
The Construction Backlog Now Tests Investor Conviction
The same expectations lifting miner valuations are now pressuring operators to turn signed contracts into functioning data centers. Only about 550 megawatts of more than 4 gigawatts of contracted capacity is currently billing, leaving most of the sector’s $100 billion-plus backlog dependent on future construction, financing, and deployment. Investors are valuing much of the sector on infrastructure that has yet to produce revenue.
Some conversion is underway. Core Scientific is currently billing 437 megawatts, Cipher began collecting rent from its Black Pearl facility in August, and IREN is targeting $4 billion in annual operating recurring revenue by December 31. CoinShares expects the industry’s AI and HPC revenue run rate to more than double by its next report, which would begin narrowing the gap between contracts already signed and the roughly $1.1 billion of revenue currently being generated. Miners that complete their buildout on schedule will begin putting cash flow behind the valuations investors have already assigned. Those that do not could remain priced for an AI business that exists mostly in backlog.
The BlockWest read. We see this less as a fundamental AI story and more as a capital reallocation story: miners are trading optionality in Bitcoin production for commitment to a higher-margin but more capital-intensive business. Bitcoin’s recent rebound to $77,000 has lifted hash price to roughly $38 per petahash per second per day, pushing most listed operators back above cash breakeven. That improved economics could tempt some miners to preserve mining flexibility rather than lock in long-term AI leases, narrowing the sector’s margin improvement.
The test comes in the next two quarters. CoinShares expects AI and HPC revenue to more than double by the time it publishes its next industry report, with IREN targeting $4 billion in annual operating recurring revenue by December 31 and Core Scientific already billing 437 megawatts. Investors assigned the premium before construction began; execution now determines whether the backlog converts to cash flow or collapses into stranded assets.
