June 2026 was a month of paradoxes for public mining companies: despite a record drop in Bitcoin network difficulty to 2026 lows, three major players — CleanSpark, BitFuFu, and Canaan — reported a decline in their first cryptocurrency mining volumes. This indicates that structural problems within miners' businesses outweigh the favorable market conditions.
CleanSpark, one of the sector's leaders, mined 614 BTC in June compared to 671 BTC in May. The company attributes the 8.5% decline to a decrease in average operational hashrate from 46 EH/s to 43 EH/s. Meanwhile, the miner still holds an impressive reserve of 13,924 BTC on its balance sheet. BitFuFu showed an even sharper reduction: from 177 BTC to 125 BTC. Here, the key factor is a drop in total computing power from 19.5 EH/s to 15 EH/s due to reduced leased capacity. However, BitFuFu is actively expanding its own fleet: 1,200 S21 XP miners were deployed in June, and another 2,000 devices are planned for connection in July. Canaan, in turn, reduced its mining output from 90 BTC to 64 BTC, citing planned power grid maintenance at one of its sites. However, the company's Texas joint venture recovered from May disruptions caused by wildfires. As a result, Canaan added 49 BTC to its balance sheet, 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's stock fell to $0.2 (-1.5%). This differentiation reflects varying degrees of investor confidence in these companies' strategies.
CleanSpark Makes a Strategic Pivot Worth $6.6 Billion
Amid the decline in mining output, CleanSpark took a bold step toward diversification. On July 14, the company 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 tenant will deploy 175 MW of infrastructure, with commissioning scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2027. The agreement includes two options for five-year extensions each, potentially increasing the total deal value to $11.6 billion.
CleanSpark CEO Matt Schultz emphasized that this agreement marks the company's transition from pure Bitcoin mining to a diversified digital infrastructure model, allowing it to begin commercializing its energy assets. Simultaneously, the parties signed an exclusivity agreement for negotiations covering CleanSpark's entire Texas portfolio, which includes two sites totaling 718 acres with potential capacity of up to 885 MW, intended for data center deployment. The company expects the contract to generate approximately $330 million in net operating income annually with nearly 100% operating margins.
Recall that CleanSpark began its pivot toward AI infrastructure in the fall of 2025, and recently, mining company MARA Holdings also acquired a Texas site for $600 million for AI and Bitcoin mining.
My analysis: The decline in mining output at CleanSpark, BitFuFu, and Canaan is not just a temporary technical hiccup but a signal of structural restructuring in the sector. Miners are increasingly moving from a pure mining model to a hybrid one, where energy assets serve as a base for high-yield contracts with the AI sector. CleanSpark is a pioneer here, and its $6.6 billion deal could set a precedent for the entire industry. However, investors should closely monitor how quickly companies can compensate for declining mining revenue with new income streams.