AI Data Center 'Gold Rush' Sparks Debate: Will It Impact Bitcoin Network Security

BlockBeats News, March 16th, as the power demand of AI data centers surged, the market is debating fiercely on whether it would weaken Bitcoin mining or even affect Bitcoin network security.

Cryptocurrency trader Ran Neuner stated on social media that AI has become the biggest competitor to Bitcoin mining as both heavily rely on power resources. He pointed out that the revenue of Bitcoin mining per megawatt of power is around $57 to $129, while AI data centers can generate revenue of $200 to $500 per megawatt of power, up to 8 times higher than mining. Therefore, more mining companies are shifting towards AI businesses. Neuner listed several mining companies that have started to embrace AI:

Core Scientific recently secured a $1 billion credit line for its AI hosting business;
MARA Holdings filed with the US SEC hinting at selling some Bitcoin to advance its AI transformation;
Hut 8 signed a $7 billion AI infrastructure agreement with Google in December last year;
Cipher Mining also reduced its hash rate to focus on AI computation.

In addition, Jihan Wu (co-founder of Bitmain) is also believed to have halted mining and pivoted to the AI field. Neuner believes that if miners continue to exit, the decrease in Bitcoin's hash rate will increase the potential risk of a "51% attack" on the network. Currently, the Bitcoin network's total hash rate has dropped by around 14.5% from its peak in October last year.

However, there are industry insiders who hold a different view. Bitcoin early developer and cryptographer Adam Back stated that even if some miners transition to AI, Bitcoin's difficulty adjustment mechanism will automatically reduce mining difficulty, allowing the remaining miners to increase their profitability, thus attracting hash rate back to the network.