American bitcoin mining companies are rapidly pivoting their scarce power resources and large-scale data center campus assets toward AI computing infrastructure, a move that is significantly undermining the policy push to concentrate crypto mining activity within the United States. The total market capitalization of bitcoin has shrunk by roughly $1 trillion from its October 2025 peak, putting pressure on mining economics, while demand from hyperscale AI data center operators for power capacity and computing facilities is forcing listed miners to rebalance their strategic focus. Forecasts suggest that by the end of this year, the majority of revenue for US-listed mining companies will come from selling or leasing AI computing capacity, while the hashrate share of Foundry USA, a major US-based mining pool, has dropped from over one-third to about 26%.
Since returning to the White House, the administration has made accelerating AI data center construction and associated energy development a clear policy priority. An executive order signed on July 23, 2025, mandated faster federal approval for data centers and related power infrastructure, while opening up applicable federal lands and resources to support construction. On June 18, 2026, the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission further required six regional grid operators under its jurisdiction to justify existing large-load customer connection rules, or propose reforms, in order to accelerate data center grid access while preventing cost shifts to other ratepayers. These policy moves are designed to shorten construction and power connection lead times, but new generation, grid capacity, and equipment still take time to build, making existing bitcoin mining campuses with secured power supply increasingly valuable to AI developers and cloud hyperscalers.
With bitcoin's sluggish performance in recent years, the pivot toward AI computing is now showing up in long-term contracts. On July 20, Hut 8 Corp (NASDAQ: HUT) disclosed that its Beacon Point campus in Texas, originally evaluated for development around servicing American Bitcoin, ultimately signed two 15-year AI lease agreements covering a combined 704 megawatts of IT capacity, with aggregate base-term contract value reaching $19.6 billion. On July 6, TeraWulf Inc (NASDAQ: WULF) announced a 20-year lease agreement with Anthropic involving approximately 401 megawatts of IT load, projecting roughly $19 billion in base-term contracted revenue, with capacity deliveries scheduled to begin in the second half of 2027. These long-dated agreements offer miners extended revenue visibility and demonstrate the ability of major AI data center players to secure power resources.
Underlying this transformation are core assets such as power access, land, substation infrastructure, and project delivery capability. Existing mining sites still require upgrades to power redundancy, liquid cooling, and network facilities to support high-density AI computing. TeraWulf's financial disclosures show the company idled and converted some mining infrastructure to expand its high-performance computing business, while recognizing accelerated depreciation and impairment charges. Consequently, whether miners can achieve a valuation re-rating depends on whether long-term lease revenues can cover conversion investment, financing costs, and delivery risks.
Both goals of this administration - accelerating AI data center construction and boosting domestic bitcoin mining - are now competing within a constrained power supply environment. Companies that can secure reliable customers and deliver mission-critical AI computing facilities will be better positioned to convert existing energy assets into new cash flow streams.
AI Boom Unravels the Bitcoin "Made in America" Plan
The promise to keep bitcoin mining centered in the United States is rapidly coming apart under the twin pressures of an artificial intelligence boom and a prolonged cryptocurrency bear market. Even after a recent rebound, bitcoin's total market value remains about $1 trillion below its October 2025 peak, and the economics of mining the world's largest cryptocurrency - earning rewards by verifying transactions - have rarely looked less attractive. Soaring AI resource demands are pushing miners to convert their facilities into data centers suited to that industry's needs. By year-end, listed mining companies are expected to derive most of their revenues from AI. Some hardware manufacturers serving the crypto mining sector are following suit by pivoting to AI.
As a result, hashrate dedicated to bitcoin mining has fallen roughly 18% since October, according to data tracked by Seattle-based crypto mining services provider Luxor Technology. But it is not just that the market is shrinking; its center of gravity is shifting away from the US and toward East Asia and parts of Russia, reversing a multi-year trend. "The biggest declines are among US-listed companies because they are pivoting their power to AI," said Ethan Vera, chief operating officer at Luxor. "We expect this trend to continue." This marks a dramatic reversal for a market that was once a key part of the president's outreach to crypto supporters during the 2024 campaign. The administration had previously asserted a desire to see every bitcoin "made, mined, and minted" in the US, citing potential competition from China.
The change is also being felt within the presidential family's business interests. American Bitcoin Corp., a mining firm backed by the president's family, was formed last year just before bitcoin's slide from record highs. The company has now posted losses for three consecutive quarters and its stock has fallen roughly 90% over the past twelve months. China once dominated crypto mining, benefiting from cheap energy and easy access to hardware produced by domestic firms like Bitmain. That changed in 2021 when a sweeping government crackdown triggered an exodus of mining operations. The US subsequently became the center of the market, with listed companies like MARA Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: MARA) and Riot Platforms Inc (NASDAQ: RIOT) scaling up quickly.
These companies rely on institutional mining pools - platforms that aggregate hashrate to improve miners' odds of earning rewards. Because MARA and its US-listed competitors operate under US regulatory oversight, they typically use compliant pools such as Foundry USA, while Antpool and F2Pool remain more popular among miners outside the US. According to Hashrate Index, Foundry's share of total bitcoin network hashrate has dropped from more than one-third to 26%. The data also shows a snapshot of bitcoin mining hashrate share by region for the three days ending August 31, illustrating a notable decline in US-based mining capacity in recent months. Vera noted that pool data provides only a rough estimate of shifts in mining activity, but the trend away from the US is unmistakable.
The Lingering Hardware Challenge
The shift is also visible in the strategic decisions of crypto mining hardware makers. In March, Auradine Inc., a mining hardware startup based in Santa Clara, California, rebranded as Velaura AI and began pitching a new chip design and intellectual property platform. In August, the company announced it had raised $110 million in Series A funding, pushing its overall valuation past $1 billion. "Our work on bitcoin ASICs helped validate these technologies in high-volume production and demanding real-world deployment environments," said Rajiv Khemani, co-founder and CEO of Velaura AI. He added that over the past few years, "it has become increasingly clear that power consumption and energy efficiency are among the most important constraints facing AI data centers and emerging physical AI super applications."
The repositioning of Auradine suggests that the recent surge in US crypto mining activity may prove fleeting. Although China has formally banned most types of cryptocurrency businesses, it still holds a firm grip on the hardware segment of the industry. Bitmain retains a near-monopoly position. Even pro-crypto lobbyists have begun acknowledging this reality. The Digital Chamber, a blockchain advocacy group, says building manufacturing facilities in the US is extremely difficult, especially for energy-intensive operations. The group notes that mining equipment makers are actively seeking to move production capacity into the US but are often hampered by lengthy approval cycles, difficulty securing power, supply chain fragility, and tariffs.
Still, some efforts are underway. A year ago, Block Inc., led by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, launched its own mining rig called Proto Rig, a sleek gray box with fan vents. Since then, however, Block has largely remained silent about Proto. In July, Singapore-based Bitdeer Technologies Group (NASDAQ: BTDR) announced it would invest $36 million to build its first US manufacturing facility in Sparks, Nevada. The company expects the plant to produce 10,000 Sealminer units per month for crypto mining. "We still view bitcoin mining as a core pillar of our business," said Retainna Lin, vice president of AI business at Bitdeer, in an interview.
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