Some Bitcoin mining companies are moving away from cryptocurrencies and embracing artificial intelligence. NPR's podcast “The Indicator” explains why.
MICHELLE MARTIN, HOST:
Big changes are occurring in the world of cryptocurrencies. Companies mining Bitcoin have realized that their resources are better spent on artificial intelligence. My colleagues at The Indicator, Stephen Bisaha and Darian Woods, explain.
STEVEN BISAHA, BYLINE: One of the Bitcoin mining companies we're talking about is called Bitfarms, and the CEO is Ben Gagnon.
Ben Gagnon: We had four co-founders, two of them Argentinians, who were actually mining Bitcoin and Ether in a small hotel in Argentina.
BISAHA: I think the typical image of people who have been mining Bitcoin for a long time was a bunch of servers duct taped together in a hotel room. Did you all actually start like that?
Gagnon: I think it started in the basement. But it was definitely inside the hotel.
DARIAN WOODS, BYLINE: Bitfarm has since moved from the basement to a large data center. The company has more than a dozen of them in North America.
Gagnon: Energy is an asset. Energy is worth everything. And Bitcoin miners were exactly how we harnessed energy and monetized energy. But the core value was energy.
BISAHA: So what I'm hearing is, please don't call us a Bitcoin mining company. Please don't call us an AI company. Call your energy company.
Gagnon: Yeah. Call us an energy and infrastructure company. What we solve is energy bottlenecks. In the United States, it takes years to access energy. Therefore, having access to energy means you can start taking action sooner and more reliably.
Woods: It's worth mentioning here that both Bitcoin and AI use a lot of energy. This has led to soaring electricity prices across the country and often leads to greenhouse gas emissions. And we know that's not good for the climate.
Bissaha: Yes. Power companies are also trying to generate more electricity to meet all this demand. But for now, supplies are limited.
Woods: So if you're a company that has access to this energy and you have to choose between using it for Bitcoin and AI, it's not hard to choose AI. In other words, what's driving the stock market right now is hot technology. That's how Nvidia became a $5 trillion company.
Bissaha: Yes. Bitcoin mining, on the other hand, requires you to ride the roller coaster of Bitcoin prices up and down. If you do it for years, it can go from thrilling to exhausting.
Woods: So, do you want to stay on the roller coaster or…
GAGNON: You can move into a less volatile, more predictable business with higher revenues, higher margins, and higher cash flow.
BISAHA: I think it's much better for blood pressure.
Gagnon: It certainly doesn't hurt.
Woods: But all this talk about an AI bubble may be raising some investors' blood pressure. Ben is still an optimist.
Gagnon: We all believe in Bitcoin. We all own Bitcoin. So this is not a decision anyone made lightly.
BISAHA: I'm talking to you, not Ben as the Bitfarms CEO, but Ben as a Bitcoin believer, and I think it's either, or both, but what does it mean to you to be a Bitcoin believer, but we're trying to pivot away from Bitcoin?
Gagnon: You know, I don't know if there's a conflict there, right? For example, you can believe in Bitcoin, but it might not be the right thing for you or your company. It doesn't mean selling Bitcoin. It doesn't mean I don't believe in Bitcoin anymore. But that only means there are better opportunities for the company itself.
BISAHA: So, Darian, this is pretty optimistic about the future technology of AI. I mean, Ben Gagnon even dismissed fears of an AI bubble by saying there was a dot-com bubble in the '90s, and yet we still have a massive web-based economy today.
Woods: Well, if I'm looking for optimism, the dot-com bubble might be the last place I turn.
Bissach: Stephen Bissach.
WOODS: Darian Woods, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF SHOOK'S “INFINITE”)
Copyright © 2025 NPR. Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited. For more information, please visit our website's Terms of Use and Permissions page at www.npr.org.
Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match audio updates. Audio on npr.org may be edited from its original broadcast or after publication. The reliable recording of NPR's programming is the audio recording.
