The pivot of U.S. Bitcoin mining companies toward AI infrastructure is accelerating, but investors are becoming far more selective about which operators are actually executing the transition. Keel Infrastructure, formerly known as Bitfarms, has officially ceased all U.S. Bitcoin mining operations and will focus exclusively on High-Performance Computing and AI data centers. The move reflects intensifying competition for electricity, with AI companies increasingly outbidding crypto miners for grid access.
The earnings season underscored the pressure. MARA Holdings reported second-quarter revenue of $174.9 million, down 27% from $238.5 million a year earlier, and a net loss of $611.3 million that included a $343 million fair-value writedown on its bitcoin holdings. CleanSpark's fiscal third-quarter revenue fell 30.5% to $138 million, with a $239.8 million net loss. Despite the similar headline declines, Bernstein kept CleanSpark at Outperform with a $24 price target while holding MARA at Market-Perform with a $17 target. The divergence, the firm said, was tied to AI execution rather than mining output.
CleanSpark has already signed a $6.6 billion, 20-year AI hosting lease at its Sandersville facility, whereas MARA has yet to land its first commercial AI contract. That distinction matters more as market reactions cool. Research from Blocksbridge Consulting covering 25 AI and HPC deals announced by bitcoin miners between June 2024 and August 2026 found that average same-day stock gains fell from roughly 24% for early announcements to about 10% recently. Core Scientific's first CoreWeave deal lifted its stock more than 40%, and TeraWulf's first Fluidstack agreement produced a nearly 60% surge, reactions that have not been repeated.
The trend is reshaping the Bitcoin mining landscape. Ionic Digital's Nasdaq debut was pitched largely on its 234-megawatt Texas AI buildout and rose about 26%, while Poolin's bankruptcy sale of Texas mining sites attracted AI and hyperscale bidders rather than only traditional mining buyers. For now, the market is distinguishing between miners with signed, revenue-generating leases and those still telling the AI story.