Lekker Capital Chief Investment Officer Quinn Thompson has issued a stark warning on social media platform X, arguing that the collapsing economics of Bitcoin mining, combined with a strategic shift by major public miners toward artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC), could transform corporate Bitcoin treasuries into a significant new source of market supply.
"A large underappreciated headwind for Bitcoin is the disaster that which is mining economics. The only way this heals is through a decline in hashrate, which is being spearheaded by the AI compute first movers like CORZ, WULF, CIFR, IREN, etc.," Thompson wrote. He shared a chart illustrating the problem, showing aggregate Bitcoin holdings across major listed miners climbing sharply through 2024 and 2025 before rolling over in 2026.
Thompson clarifies that the pivot to AI is not structurally bearish for Bitcoin in the long term. In fact, a lower network hashrate and reduced uneconomic competition could ultimately improve the health of the mining industry. His central concern is the costly transition period. The capital-intensive buildout of AI infrastructure may force these companies to liquidate Bitcoin that was previously held as a strategic treasury asset to fund their new ventures.
"While helpful to long-term health and sustainability of the network economics, it presents a dilemma for prices in the near-term as Bitcoin miners hold almost 80,000 Bitcoin on their balance sheets," Thompson argued. "As these companies pivot away from BTC mining, they 1) need capital to fund the AI buildout capex requirements and 2) have no reason to hold any BTC on their balance sheet."
Recent corporate filings from 2025 provide concrete evidence of this trend. Core Scientific's Q4 2025 results revealed a business mix tilting away from mining, with self-mining revenue falling to $42.2 million from $79.9 million a year earlier, while colocation (HPC) revenue rose to $31.3 million from $8.5 million. For the full year, Core generated $402.5 million from selling digital assets and ended 2025 with 2,537 BTC on its balance sheet.
TeraWulf stated it "solidified HPC hosting as its primary growth engine" in 2025, signing over $12.8 billion in long-term customer contracts. Its financials show the legacy mining business was being monetized to fund this shift: it mined 1,496 BTC, disposed of 1,500 BTC, and held only 3 BTC by year-end.
Cipher Mining increased its HPC focus, signing two tenants for 600 MW of capacity and selling bitcoin for approximately $214.7 million during 2025. Iris Energy (IREN) has taken the most extreme approach, stating it "typically liquidate[s] all the Bitcoin we mine daily" and held zero bitcoin on its balance sheet at the end of 2025, with nearly 100,000 GPUs installed or on order.
Marathon Digital (MARA), while less advanced in its AI conversion, is the treasury heavyweight in the group. Its 2025 disclosures showed it began selling Bitcoin in the second half of the year, disposing of about 4,076 BTC for $413.1 million, yet still ended the year holding roughly 53,822 BTC.
The tension in Thompson's thesis is clear: while a miner-led shift into AI can reduce hashrate pressure and improve long-run mining economics, the capital-intensive transition is already being funded through BTC sales, miner disposals, and site conversions. For the Bitcoin market, this means an industry adjustment that may be constructive later could act as a supply overhang in the near term. At the time of reporting, Bitcoin was trading at $72,322.
