The largest public mining companies have carried out a record sell-off of bitcoins — in one quarter, they sold over 32,000 BTC. It would seem that such a massive outflow of computing power should have collapsed the network. However, contrary to all expectations, the blockchain not only held up but also emerged from this stress test with a new all-time high in hashrate. This event has overturned the traditional understanding of the security of the first cryptocurrency.
The reason for such a radical step is harsh economic logic. The cost of mining one bitcoin for public companies is about $80,000. For a significant part of this year, the asset traded below this mark, making mining unprofitable. At the same time, redirecting the same computing power to training artificial intelligence (AI) generates three to five times more revenue under long-term contracts with giants like Microsoft and Google.
As a result, miners not only sold a record volume of coins and signed contracts worth $70 billion but also began actively converting their power plants into data centers for AI. The stock market instantly appreciated this pivot, boosting the shares of the largest players by 500%.
A Network That Doesn't Need Miners
Many analysts predicted a catastrophe. It was believed that Bitcoin's security relies solely on the loyalty of miners spending real energy. And indeed, for the first time in six years, the hashrate briefly declined. But then the built-in mechanism kicked in. When miners leave, blocks take longer to find, and the network automatically reduces difficulty, making mining more profitable for those who remain. The reward of those who left was literally transferred to those who stayed, as well as to smaller, more efficient private operators.
In the end, the hashrate not only recovered but reached a new all-time high. The network's security budget was replenished from another pocket — without any votes, bailout measures, or missed blocks. This is a brilliant demonstration that Bitcoin's security is built not on loyalty but on cold mathematics, which inherently accounts for miners leaving as soon as something more profitable appears.
A New Challenge: Not Bitcoin, but AI
This precedent marks a shift in focus. The next "major financial dispute" will not be about the fate of Bitcoin but about control over artificial intelligence. European regulators and central banks are already sounding the alarm: agentic AI is developing faster than financial regulation can keep up. The need for industry-wide "kill switches" is being discussed in case AI trading begins to destabilize markets.
My expert opinion: The exodus of miners is not a crisis but an evolution. Bitcoin has passed a stress test, proving that its security is decentralized not only geographically but also economically. However, we stand on the threshold of a new era where the main asset and the main threat will not be cryptocurrency but computational intelligence. The question is whether regulators will have time to create the rules of the game before the market starts dictating them itself.