Publicly traded Bitcoin miners are reducing mining capacity more quickly than the wider Bitcoin network, underscoring a broader shift toward AI and HPC (high-performance computing) businesses that can generate higher returns from power and data center assets. BlocksBridge Consulting said realized hashrate across a cohort of public miners fell from 368.3 EH/s in the fourth quarter of 2025 to 319 EH/s in the second quarter of 2026, a 13.4% drop. Excluding Bitdeer, which expanded its mining fleet, the cohort’s realized hashrate declined 21.2% from 324.6 EH/s to 255.9 EH/s, while Bitdeer’s own realized hashrate rose 44% to 63 EH/s. Over the same period, the Bitcoin network’s average hashrate fell 10.6%. The revenue mix is also changing: Core Scientific reported $136.7 million in colocation revenue versus $27.5 million from Bitcoin mining in the second quarter, while TeraWulf posted $31.9 million in HPC lease revenue against $12.8 million from mining. BlocksBridge said the retreat reflects an unwinding of the expansion cycle that followed China’s 2021 Bitcoin mining ban, as weaker mining profitability after a halving cycle and strong AI infrastructure demand since 2022 push some miners to redirect sites and electricity away from Bitcoin mining.