Bitcoin Miners Liquidate 80,000 BTC Treasuries for AI Pivot
Mining economics are forcing public miners to dump their treasuries to fund AI infrastructure buildouts. Lekker Capital CIO Quinn Thompson warned that nearly 80,000 BTC in corporate holdings could become fresh supply as companies like Core Scientific, TeraWulf, Cipher, and IREN pivot away from mining.
Key Takeaway
Miners dumping treasuries to fund AI pivots could weigh on Bitcoin prices until the 80,000 BTC overhang clears.
Lekker Capital CIO Quinn Thompson has a warning for Bitcoin bulls: collapsing mining economics are forcing public miners to dump their treasuries.
He argued that the pivot to AI and high-performance computing by companies like Core Scientific, TeraWulf, Cipher, and IREN is turning nearly 80,000 BTC in corporate holdings into fresh supply. Thompson said miners need capital to fund AI infrastructure build-outs and have no reason to hold Bitcoin if they're exiting the mining business. The shift heals long-term network economics by forcing down hashrate, but it creates near-term price pressure as miners sell to finance the pivot.
Core Scientific sold ₱24.05 billion ($402.5 million) worth of digital assets in 2025 and ended the year with just 2,537 BTC after shifting to colocation revenue. Self-mining revenue crashed to ₱2.52 billion ($42.2 million) in Q4 from ₱4.77 billion ($79.9 million) a year earlier, while colocation revenue jumped to ₱1.87 billion ($31.3 million) from ₱507.97 million ($8.5 million).
TeraWulf signed more than ₱764.95 billion ($12.8 billion) in long-term customer contracts and reported $9.7 million in HPC lease revenue versus $26.1 million in digital asset revenue for Q4. The company mined 1,496 BTC in 2025, disposed of 1,500 BTC, and held just 3 BTC at year-end.
IREN liquidated all mined Bitcoin daily and installed nearly 99,900 GPUs by year-end, ending 2025 with zero BTC on its balance sheet. Cipher sold roughly $214.7 million worth of Bitcoin last year and classified $94.9 million of Black Pearl mining rigs as held for sale.
Marathon Digital remains the largest treasury holder in the group with roughly 53,822 BTC at year-end despite selling about 4,076 BTC for $413.1 million in 2025. The company deployed its first ten AI racks at Granbury in November and partnered with Starwood for AI and HPC expansion. Bitcoin traded at $72,322 at press time.
This article was written based on reporting from NewsBTC.
