In this week’s news recap, The Mining Pod covers shifts in mining economics with falling mining rewards, MARA relieving its CTO, Bitdeer doubling down on AI/HPC, a record government Bitcoin seizures and BlackRock getting in on the AI infra game.
Hashprice Drops, Margins Tighten
Bitcoin fell from about $125K to $108K, pushing hash prices below $50 per PH per day. Transaction fees are low, and Ordinals traffic has dried up. Luxor’s Hashrate Index reported a 2.5% difficulty drop, small relief for miners under pressure.
Operators are cutting power costs, timing rigs to cheaper hours, and tuning cooling efficiency. Investors should watch for firms with strong cost control or diversified revenue beyond block rewards.
Marathon Digital fires CTO
MARA (Nasdaq: MARA) quietly removed CTO Ashu Swamy this summer, per Blockspace reporting. Swamy led its in-house AI project, 2PIC, which was short on results. His exit suggests MARA is returning to core mining and high-performance compute operations.
Forecasting Bitcoin hashrate through 2027: Free Report
Ionic Digital Lands Microsoft AI Deal
Ionic Digital signed a 240 MW hosting lease with Microsoft through startup NScale, with possible expansion to 1.2 GW by 2028. The deal gives Microsoft access to energy-ready sites and turns Ionic into a direct AI infrastructure supplier.
Formerly a Core Scientific owned facility, Ionic’s hosting lease is yet another example of a former Bitcoin mine being valued for its sheer access to power.
Battery Storage Becomes Critical
A Brattle Group study said the PJM grid will need 43 GW of battery storage by 2045 to meet AI and renewable demand. Batteries are now essential for balancing volatile energy markets.
Batteries and miners increasingly mirror each other, as both play the spread between cheap and expensive power. Investors may see value where energy storage and mining overlap, particularly in regions with flexible power pricing.
Bitdeer Delivers Growth and Plans Pivot
Bitdeer (Nasdaq: BTDR) mined 452 BTC in September, up 20% month-over-month, lifting its stock some 25%. Its control of chip production and large-scale farms gives it a cost edge.
The Singapore-based firm is stepping up its AI/HPC colocation business in 2026, targeting $2 billion in recurring revenue. Bitdeer could soon earn more from data services than mining.
BlackRock Moves on Data Centers
BlackRock, Microsoft, and Nvidia are buying Aligned Data Centers for $40 billion, covering nearly 80 facilities. It’s one of the largest infrastructure buys in AI history.
U.S. Government’s $14B Bitcoin Seizure
The U.S. government seized more than $14 billion in Bitcoin linked to a global fraud ring. It’s unclear if funds will return to victims, but the U.S. now holds one of the world’s largest sovereign Bitcoin reserves with likely over 300,000 Bitcoin.
