"Security Collapses and Selling Bombs Pour Out" Outlook for Bitcoin Ecosystem Consumed by AI

▲ Artificial Intelligence (AI) agent, Bitcoin (BTC), cryptocurrency mining / ChatGPT generated image ©

As major mining companies, once strong pillars of the Bitcoin ecosystem, race to shift their focus to artificial intelligence (AI) businesses, a chilling warning from an expert has emerged: their large-scale selling and the weakening of security infrastructure could combine to become a huge time bomb, pressuring price declines.

According to the cryptocurrency specialized media Bitcoinist on April 19 (local time), Charles Edwards, founder of virtual asset hedge fund Capriole Investments, stated that all major listed Bitcoin (BTC) mining companies have declared a complete business transition to AI services. These companies' self-declared target for the proportion of Bitcoin mining revenue over the next 2-3 years is expected to plummet from an average of 90% to 30%, signaling an unprecedented collapse in the mining industry landscape.

Behind this drastic change in direction lies the harsh judgment of the stock market. According to Edwards, the stock prices of companies that aggressively set their AI revenue proportion at over 80% surged by an average of more than 500%, while those that hesitated below 60% were thoroughly ignored, falling into a swamp of negative returns over the past two years. Consequently, many mining companies are halting the purchase of new mining equipment, planning to squeeze out existing devices until their lifespan ends, and then pour all future investment into AI infrastructure.

If investment in mining infrastructure ceases, the risk of the network's defenses collapsing increases. Edwards warned that a reduction in resource input into mining equipment could severely weaken the security of the Bitcoin network, and the impact would be even greater if quantum computing technology threatens cryptographic systems in the future. In past periods of mining capitulation, only 20-30% of small-scale miners left the market, but currently, giants with enterprise values exceeding $100 billion are collectively turning their backs on the ecosystem, implying that even industry leaders are pessimistic about long-term price increases.

Indeed, the exit route for miners has already opened. According to a recent report by research firm TheEnergyMag, major listed mining companies such as Mara (MARA) and Riot sold a staggering 32,000 Bitcoins in Q1 2026 alone. This is a shocking record, surpassing the entire net sales volume of 2025 in just one quarter. This large-scale cash-out is interpreted as a process of packing up due to deteriorating mining profitability and securing funds to transition to AI.

The mining profitability indicator, Hashprice, has plummeted to an all-time low of $33 per petahash (PH/s), and the reduction in rewards due to the halving and extremely high mining difficulty are pushing miners to their limits. The more they abandon Bitcoin accumulation and flood the market with their holdings, the less buying pressure there will be and the more potential selling bombs will accumulate, acting as a massive negative factor that will weigh down long-term price increases, the media diagnosed.

*Disclaimer: This article is for investment reference only, and we are not responsible for any investment losses based on it. The content should be interpreted for informational purposes only.*