Bitdeer, led by Jihan Wu, reported 71 EH/s in total hash rate under management, overtaking MARA’s 61.7 EH/s energized hash rate. The achievement is driven by its self-developed SEALMINER chips and AI expansion, though metric differences spark debate.
Bitcoin miner MARA Holdings is set to report Q1 earnings on May 11, with analysts forecasting $184.21M revenue and a $2.34 per-share loss. While BTC's 25% Q1 drop hit its holdings, the market focuses on its AI transition, including a $1.5B Long Ridge Energy acquisition and a 1GW data center partnership with Starwood.
Bitfarms exits Bitcoin mining completely, pivoting to HPC/AI data centers. Network difficulty drops 11.16%, the biggest since 2021. Hashprice hits record low of $33.31, miners lose ~$18,000 per BTC.
Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on three publicly traded bitcoin miners on Monday, assigning Overweight ratings to Cipher Mining (CIFR) and TeraWulf (WULF) while giving Marathon Digital (MARA) an Underweight rating. Analyst Stephen Byrd argues that certain miners are better valued as infrastructure plays rather than pure crypto bets, comparing their data center leases to REITs. Cipher is seen as the prime example, TeraWulf also scores with data center leasing experience, while Marathon’s hybrid approach and dependence on bitcoin price earn it a cautious stance. The coverage comes amid a broader debate on whether miners should pivot from proof-of-work to AI and high-performance computing data centers.
MARA Holdings disclosed in its latest annual filing that it expanded its crypto management strategy for 2026 to permit sales of bitcoin held on its balance sheet, breaking from a 'never sell' ethos. As of Dec. 31, 2025, MARA held 53,822 bitcoin valued at about $4.7 billion, with 28% deployed in lending, trading, or collateral. Meanwhile, Core Scientific expects to monetize substantially all of its bitcoin holdings in 2026 as part of a shift toward AI and high-density colocation services. The moves reflect post-halving economics and the need for capital to fund AI data center projects. BTC is currently trading around $66,741.
Reuters reported that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg told employees in an internal memo that the company made mistakes while using layoffs and job changes to advance its AI transition. He said Meta does not expect more companywide layoffs this year.
