Donald Trump’s promise to keep Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) mining centered in the US is unraveling as miners convert facilities into AI data centers and computing power shifts back toward China and Russia.
What Is Happening to US Bitcoin Mining?
Bloomberg reported Tuesday that Bitcoin mining is using 18% less computing power today than in October 2025, with U.S.-listed public miners driving the largest share of that decline as they redirect energy capacity toward AI data centers.
Luxor Technology COO Ethan Vera expects public miners to generate most of their revenue from AI rather than Bitcoin by year-end.
“The largest decline is for U.S.-publicly listed companies, as they turn to deploy their energy into AI,” Vera told Bloomberg. “We expect this trend to continue,” he added.
Foundry USA, the largest US-compliant mining pool, has watched its share of total Bitcoin network computing power drop from over one-third to 26% according to the Hashrate Index, while Chinese pools AntPool and F2Pool pick up the slack.
The shift reverses a years-long trend that followed China’s 2021 mining crackdown, which had made the US the dominant force in global Bitcoin mining.
Why This Matters for Trump’s Crypto Pledge
Trump campaigned in 2024 on a promise to make, mine and mint every Bitcoin in the U.S.
However, the AI boom is now pulling that pledge apart, with mining facilities converting to AI infrastructure and hardware manufacturers following suit.
American Bitcoin Corp. (NASDAQ:ABTC), the Trump family-backed miner launched just before Bitcoin’s October 2025 peak, tells the story plainly.
The company has posted losses for three straight quarters and its shares have fallen roughly 90% over the past year.
On the hardware side, mining startup Auradine rebranded to Velaura AI in March and raised $110 million in August at a valuation above $1 billion, using the same energy efficiency technology it built for Bitcoin mining chips to now power AI infrastructure instead.
Why the Numbers Paint a Clear Picture
Bitcoin’s overall market value sits roughly $1 trillion below its October 2025 peak despite a recent rally, making mining economics among the least appealing they have been in years.
With AI capex offering miners better returns on the same energy infrastructure, the financial incentive to keep facilities running Bitcoin mining hardware has largely disappeared.
Photo via Shutterstock
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