June 2026 proved challenging for three leading public mining companies — CleanSpark, BitFuFu, and Canaan. Despite a notable decline in Bitcoin mining difficulty, which reached its lowest levels in recent years, each of them recorded a decrease in their production of the first cryptocurrency.
CleanSpark reported mining 614 BTC compared to 671 BTC in May. The main reason was a drop in the average operational hashrate from 46 EH/s to 43 EH/s. The company's balance sheet at the end of June held 13,924 BTC.
BitFuFu reduced its production from 177 BTC to 125 BTC. The total computing power of its equipment fell from 19.5 EH/s to 15 EH/s due to a reduction in leased capacity. However, the company is actively expanding its own fleet: in June, an additional 1,200 S21 XP miners were deployed, increasing its own hashrate to 3.5 EH/s. Another 2,000 devices are expected to be connected in July.
Canaan mined 64 BTC compared to 90 BTC the previous month. The decline in production is related to scheduled maintenance of the power grid at one of its sites. Meanwhile, the company's Texas joint venture recovered from May disruptions caused by wildfires. Canaan's balance increased by 49 BTC, ending June with a record 1,915 BTC and 3,952 ETH.
The stock market reaction was mixed. CleanSpark shares rose to $13 (+5%), BitFuFu to $1.42 (+7%), while Canaan fell to $0.2 (-1.5%).
CleanSpark Signs Historic $6.6 Billion Contract
On July 14, CleanSpark signed a 20-year lease agreement for a data center campus in Sandersville, Georgia, with an unnamed investment-grade technology company. The contract is valued at $6.6 billion. The lessee will deploy infrastructure with a capacity of 175 MW, with the facility's commissioning scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2027. The agreement includes two options for five-year extensions each, which, if exercised, could bring the total deal value to $11.6 billion.
CleanSpark CEO Matt Schultz noted that this agreement marks the company's transition from pure Bitcoin mining to a diversified digital infrastructure model and allows it to begin commercializing its energy assets. Simultaneously, the parties signed an agreement for exclusive negotiations regarding CleanSpark's entire Texas portfolio, which includes two sites totaling 718 acres with a potential capacity of up to 885 MW.
The company expects the contract to generate approximately $330 million in net operating income annually with nearly 100% operating margins. CleanSpark began its pivot toward artificial intelligence infrastructure in the fall of 2025, announcing the development of its data center business and evaluating the possibility of retrofitting its energy sites for AI workloads.
My analysis: The current situation clearly demonstrates that the mining industry is undergoing a structural shift. The decline in production amid falling difficulty is not a temporary phenomenon but a consequence of resource reallocation toward more profitable areas, such as AI infrastructure. CleanSpark is acting as a pioneer here, and if the contract meets expectations, we will see a wave of similar deals from other public miners. For long-term investors, this is a signal: the future of mining lies not in hashrate, but in the diversification of energy assets.