The gap of roughly $17,100, or 29%, marked a sharp deterioration in industry economics during the three months to June, according to a new sector review by digital-asset investment group CoinShares. The report said the aggregate listed-miner cohort moved below cash breakeven as weaker Bitcoin prices collided with depressed mining revenue and still-heavy operating costs.
Profitability has improved since the quarter ended. Bitcoin was trading around $76,000 on Wednesday after falling sharply this week, while mining revenue per unit of computing power, known as hash price, had recovered to about $38 per petahash per second per day from a record monthly average low of $27.70 in June. That rebound has moved many operators back above cash breakeven, although margins remain tight and vary widely by electricity contracts, machine efficiency and corporate overhead.
CoinShares’ analysis showed that the pressure was uneven across companies. American Bitcoin, Bitdeer, HIVE Digital Technologies and IREN mined below their realised Bitcoin prices on a cash basis during the quarter, while CleanSpark and Riot Platforms were close to breakeven. MARA Holdings recorded an estimated ex-tax cash cost of about $86,126 per Bitcoin, around $15,800 above its realised revenue per coin.
Company filings underline those differences. Riot reported a second-quarter cost to mine of $49,912 per Bitcoin, supported by power credits and an average all-in electricity cost of 3.6 US cents per kilowatt-hour. MARA said it mined 2,422 Bitcoin during the quarter and reported purchased energy costs of $38,690 per Bitcoin at company-owned sites, though broader direct and corporate expenses lifted its effective cash burden substantially.
The squeeze is accelerating a shift by several listed miners towards artificial-intelligence and high-performance computing infrastructure, where long-term power contracts and data-centre demand can offer steadier returns. CoinShares estimated that AI-related operations can generate about $1.5 million in annual profit per megawatt, compared with roughly $500,000 per megawatt from Bitcoin mining under current industry economics.
At least 35 exahashes per second of computing capacity is scheduled to leave the publicly listed mining group, equivalent to about 4.7% of the roughly 750 EH/s network hashrate cited in the report. Core Scientific paid $41.9 million to cancel an agreement for 15 EH/s of next-generation mining equipment, while several operators are reducing or ending cryptocurrency mining as they commit sites and power capacity to data-centre projects.
IREN has said its transition away from Bitcoin mining is expected to be substantially complete by the end of 2026. Cipher Digital is also moving towards large-scale data-centre development, while TeraWulf’s expanding high-performance computing business has become a larger contributor to revenue as its mining output contracts.
The second-quarter figures also highlight the distinction between direct mining costs and broader all-in accounting costs. Depreciation, stock-based compensation, interest and administrative expenses can push the reported cost per Bitcoin far above the cash needed to keep machines operating, particularly at companies that are simultaneously building AI infrastructure.
That distinction is important because the $75,500 figure is a backward-looking weighted average rather than a uniform breakeven price for the industry. Operators with cheap power and newer machines can remain profitable below that level, while miners carrying expensive hosting agreements, debt or older equipment can lose money even when Bitcoin trades above it.
Canaan, which reported its second-quarter results this month, said it produced 243 Bitcoin and maintained positive cash contribution before depreciation, helped by an all-in power cost of about 4.3 cents per kilowatt-hour. The company described the quarter as difficult because of weaker Bitcoin prices, softer mining economics and seasonal power constraints.
Arabian Post – Crypto News Network
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