Miners pivot to AI, sell BTC reserves, increase market supply

Public miners pivot to AI, risking ~80,000 BTC hitting the market

Lekker Capital’s Quinn Thompson warns that collapsing mining margins and an AI/HPC shift by listed miners could turn corporate Bitcoin treasuries into near-term supply overhang. He shared a chart showing miner-held BTC rising through 2024–2025 and rolling over in 2026 on X.

“The only way this heals is through a decline in hashrate,” he wrote, pointing to AI-first movers like CORZ, WULF, CIFR, IREN source.

The pivot is capex-heavy. Thompson says miners hold “almost 80,000 Bitcoin,” and as they shift to AI/HPC they need capital and “have no reason to hold any BTC” on balance sheet source.

• Core Scientific (CORZ) Q4 self-mining revenue fell to $42.2m from $79.9m. Colocation rose to $31.3m from $8.5m. FY2025 proceeds from digital asset sales hit $402.5m. Year-end BTC balance: 2,537. Management cited a “continued strategic shift” to high-density colocation filings and public data.
• TeraWulf (WULF) Called HPC hosting its primary growth engine in 2025. Signed >$12.8b in long-term customer contracts. Built 522 IT MW under contract. Q4 digital asset revenue $26.1m vs $9.7m HPC lease. Mined 1,496 BTC, disposed 1,500 BTC, ended with 3 BTC on 12/31/2025 filings and public data.
• Cipher (CIFR) Signed two HPC tenants covering 600 MW. Sold approximately $214.7m of bitcoin in 2025. Classified $94.9m of Black Pearl rigs as held for sale after signing a sublease to transition to an HPC tenant filings and public data.
• IREN Had ~99,900 GPUs installed or on order as of 12/31/2025. Typically liquidates mined bitcoin daily. Held no BTC at year-end filings and public data.
• Marathon (MARA) Began selling BTC in H2 2025. Sold about 4,076 BTC for $413.1m in 2025. Still held ~53,822 BTC at year-end company disclosures.

Thompson’s base case: the AI shift can lower hashrate and improve mining economics over time. But the transition is being funded now via BTC sales, rig disposals, and site conversions, which can read as supply overhang in the near term analysis.

At press time, Bitcoin traded at $72,322.