Bitcoin miners operate near breakeven as profitability declines

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Bitcoin miners are operating near breakeven

Difficult times for miners

According to the analysts, the current trend suggests that a growing share of miners are operating close to their production costs. As a result, the overall hashrate is becoming more vulnerable to fluctuations in the Bitcoin price.

Mining economics have deteriorated significantly in 2026. JPMorgan, citing CoinShares’ first-quarter report, noted that about 20% of miners are currently estimated to be operating at a loss.

Financial pressure is forcing mining companies to sell more of their accumulated Bitcoin. According to data cited in the report, publicly traded miners sold more than 32,000 BTC in the first quarter. That is more than their total sales for all of 2025.

As a result, even relatively small price movements are having a growing impact on network activity. When Bitcoin falls below its production cost, higher-cost operators often switch off their equipment. This leads to a decline in hashrate and a subsequent downward adjustment in mining difficulty. JPMorgan pointed to the second week of June, when mining difficulty fell by 10%. It was already the second drop of that scale since the start of the year.

The analysts expect the heightened sensitivity of hashrate and mining difficulty to persist as long as Bitcoin remains below its estimated production cost. JPMorgan currently puts that level at around $78,000. At the time of publication, the world’s largest cryptocurrency was trading near $64,700.

AI instead of mining

Against this backdrop, Bitcoin miners are increasingly looking for revenue beyond traditional mining and shifting toward AI infrastructure and high-performance computing. They already have what the AI market needs: access to electricity, data centers, cooling systems, and experience managing energy-intensive facilities. Companies that are partially or fully betting on this direction include Core Scientific, IREN, TeraWulf, Hut 8, Cipher Mining, Bit Digital, Bitfarms, CleanSpark, Riot Platforms, and MARA Holdings.

The logic behind this shift is simple: mining depends on the BTC price, network difficulty, and block rewards, while AI hosting can provide more stable multi-year contracts. That is why some miners are trying to turn their sites from Bitcoin mining farms into infrastructure for hosting GPUs and processing AI workloads.

As a reminder, JPMorgan has been actively investing in the Ethereum-focused company BitMine.

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