The weekly market report from CoinShares, a European-based digital asset manager, offered a strong assessment of the Bitcoin mining industry’s future: AI-generated revenue for listed mining firms could surge from around 30% to roughly 70% of total revenue by the end of this year, or potentially even higher.
The reason stems from US power grid bottlenecks, according to analysis by James Butterfill, head of research at CoinShares. The vacancy rate for US data centers has dropped from 10% in 2019 to around 1% today, remaining at that level for three straight years. Moratoriums and restrictions on new data center developments stand at record highs. Capacity awaiting grid interconnection has reached roughly 2,060 gigawatts, whereas total installed power generation capacity across the entire US is only about 1,300 gigawatts—meaning the queue is approximately 1.6 times the country’s entire existing capacity. On average, a new facility must wait about five years to connect to the grid.
As a consequence, sites with ready access to power have become scarce and premium-valued assets. Bitcoin miners happen to possess precisely this type of infrastructure: they have facilities, substations, power contracts, and operating permits, and crucially face no regulatory roadblocks to redirecting capacity toward AI. This is precisely why CoinShares projects that the proportion of AI revenue among listed miners will climb from roughly 30% to about 70% by year-end.
This development unfolds against the backdrop of capital returning aggressively to digital assets. CoinShares recorded $1.65 billion flowing into global digital asset investment products over the first three trading days of the week (as of August 27), following $2.94 billion the week before, the largest weekly inflow of the year. Bitcoin led with $976 million, followed by Ethereum with $478 million. Broad participation from altcoins was also notable: XRP took in an additional $80.5 million, Solana $62.9 million, and Hyperliquid $39 million. The US accounted for the vast majority at $1.5 billion, while Germany and Switzerland also registered strong inflows.
Total assets under management for global crypto ETPs reached approximately $155 billion, and year-to-date cumulative net inflows returned to positive territory at $3.4 billion. On the price front, Bitcoin closed the August 26 session around $78,500 after briefly breaking above $81,000 during the preceding session, regaining its 200-day moving average for the first time in 270 trading sessions.
According to the report, two key signals warrant attention. First, the narrative of “miners turning into AI data centers” is no longer a distant prospect: with a new facility facing up to a five-year wait for grid interconnection, miners’ existing power infrastructure has become an entry ticket into the power-hungry AI sector. Second, the 70% figure is CoinShares’ own estimate based on current trends, rather than a certainty. It depends on whether energy prices, hosting demand for computing infrastructure, and local regulations continue to trend favorably.
For investors, the crucial takeaway is that Bitcoin mining companies should no longer be viewed merely as “Bitcoin proxy stocks” as they were in the past. Their revenue models are gradually decoupling from BTC prices, and sector valuations will increasingly be driven by the AI infrastructure market—a market with cycles and risks vastly different from the traditional coin mining narrative.