Power – Not Hashrate – Becomes Mining's 'Real Currency'
When power rules the game, mining executives speak with unusual candor
“Bitcoin Mining Faces an ‘Incredibly Difficult’ Market as Power Becomes the Real Currency.” CoinDesk’s headline from this week felt almost self-evident to anyone following the sector. Yet hearing mining executives themselves lay it out so plainly at the SALT conference in Jackson Hole added another layer of clarity — and candor — about where the industry is heading.
CleanSpark CEO Matt Schultz captured the shift: “We used to come here and talk about hash rate. Now we’re talking about how to monetize megawatts.” With 800 MW in operation and 1.2 GW in development, CleanSpark has been racing to lock up stranded energy across the U.S., using its growing scale to expand beyond bitcoin into grid services.
Terawulf’s CFO, Patrick Fleury was equally blunt, saying that even at today’s prices, half of a miner’s revenue can be swallowed by electricity. With Bitmain continuing to push hash power into the market regardless of demand, he argued that only those with ultra-cheap power — or the ability to redeploy infrastructure into new businesses — will survive. Terawulf’s $6.7 billion deal with Google to convert mining sites into data centers is one such pivot.
Indeed, after the 2022 bear market, Bitmain was sitting on more than 50 EH/s worth of excess S19 XP inventory, which it shipped to the U.S. for self-mining when buyer demand dried up. The reality is that Bitmain also has little flexibility to sharply cut or suspend wafer orders with TSMC when the cycle turns down. To do so would risk losing its foundry allocation — and the ability to ramp production again when the bull market returns. As a result, Bitmain keeps producing hardware regardless of demand, either selling or deploying it itself, which pushes global hashrate higher and tightens margins for everyone else.
IREN offered a counterpoint: with 50 EH/s online, the company says it is generating a billion-dollar revenue run rate with healthy margins. Still, even IREN is channeling more capital into GPUs. This week, it doubled its Blackwell B200 fleet with a $193 million order, supported by $102 million in lease financing, just days after settling a bruising three-year legal fight with NYDIG over $105 million in defaulted loans. Its Prince George campus in Canada could eventually host 20,000 Blackwell GPUs, underscoring how even profitable miners are chasing diversification.
MARA also emphasized balance sheet strength and agility, with CFO Salman Khan likening mining’s volatility to oil’s boom-and-bust cycles. MARA has leaned on its bitcoin treasury as a hedge and is now expanding into sovereign and edge compute through its majority stake in Exaion.
Meanwhile, Hut 8 unveiled plans for four new U.S. sites totaling 1.53 GW. Backed by a new $200 million revolving credit line with Two Prime, a $130 million repriced facility with Coinbase, and a $1 billion ATM program, Hut 8 now claims a pipeline of more than 10 GW in development. The company holds over 10,000 BTC worth $1.2 billion as collateral strength, but stopped short of offering any construction timeline for the latest projects.
Taken together, the week’s news reiterates the common truth: bitcoin remains the anchor, but energy is the new yardstick. Whether through mining, data centers, GPUs, or grid services, miners are being forced to treat megawatts as the real currency — and to speak with unusual frankness about just how difficult the business has become.
Hardware and Infrastructure News
HIVE Digital Technologies Crosses 16 EH/s - Link
IREN Doubles GPU Fleet With $193M Blackwell Purchase to Accelerate AI Pivot - TheMinerMag
Corporate News
NYDIG, IREN Reach Confidential Settlement After Failed Appeal and Looming Examination - TheMinerMag
Greenidge Generation Announces Termination of Agreement to Sell South Carolina Property - Link
Greenidge Generation Announces Commencement of Cash Tender Offer and Exchange Offer for Senior Notes Due 2026 - Link
MARA Appoints GM of Europe in Paris to Advance Global Expansion - Link
Financial News
Bitcoin Miner Hut 8 Launches New $1 Billion At-the-Market Offering - TheMinerMag
Hut 8 Secures $330M Credit from Two Prime, Coinbase to Back 1.5 GW U.S. Expansion - TheMinerMag
Gryphon Stock Jumps 10% on News Report of American Bitcoin Merger Approval - TheMinerMag
Feature
Bitcoin Mining Faces 'Incredibly Difficult' Market as Power Becomes the Real Currency - CoinDesk