Several crypto miners have spent the past year moving away from the sector and redirecting their data centers, power contracts, and infrastructure toward artificial intelligence. Protos identified Applied Digital, Core Scientific, TeraWulf, Ionic Digital, formerly Celsius mining, and Keel Infrastructure, formerly Bitfarms, as part of that shift.
Even so, bitcoin has still outperformed those former miners in the market. Protos said that, indexed to Ionic Digital’s public listing, BTC has continued to outperform all of those companies, including the former miners that pivoted to AI.
Filings show a steady retreat from mining
Applied Digital said in its 10-K filed on July 29 that it has evolved from a company focused on blockchain hosting into a purpose-built HPC data center platform organized around its proprietary AI factory model. The company added that blockchain hosting operations now represent a single-customer component of its business.
Core Scientific said in its Form 10-Q filed on July 28 that its hosted mining operations are expected to conclude by December 31, 2026, while it continues to wind down its self-mining operations. Protos noted that the company had flagged that process earlier, on October 30, 2025, when it described plans to repurpose its remaining facilities used in digital asset mining to support its high-density colocation computing services business as circumstances allow.
TeraWulf said in its fiscal 2025 Form 10-K that it has deliberately shifted capital allocation away from new BTC mining investments and toward HPC data center development. It still maintains some mining facilities, but Protos said the company appears to be continuing its move away from the industry.
Ionic Digital, which was spun out of Celsius Network during the bankruptcy, stands out as an unusual case. By the time it filed its S-1, Protos said, the company was already planning to wind down its BTC mining operations over time.
Bitfarms went through a full rebrand into Keel Infrastructure. In late 2025, it said it hoped that offering GPU as a service would help fund the company as it winds down its BTC mining business in 2026 and 2027. In February this year, it announced the broader rebrand as Keel Infrastructure.
Valuation gains from the AI pivot remain unclear
Protos said it is not exactly clear how much the shift has helped valuations. If prices are indexed to the beginning of this year, firms that have pivoted have slightly outperformed miners that still get most of their revenue from mining. Even then, the stocks still largely move together.
The comparison is not clean, because some companies outside that first group have also started moving toward AI. Protos pointed to Iris Energy leasing GPUs to Microsoft, Hut 8 signing AI leases, Riot entering into a long-term lease with a frontier lab, and Bitdeer announcing multiple leases.
In Protos’ view, they are all moving more and more toward AI. Mining itself is no longer a popular business for crypto miners, which are rapidly becoming AI infrastructure providers.
