Public Bitcoin miner CoreWeave secured an unprecedented $8.5 billion loan using its computing hardware as collateral, signaling a major shift from ‘MinerFi’ to ‘ComputeFi.’ An analysis of the sector reveals that miners are increasingly pivoting to AI ventures, driven by the rising value of repurposable GPUs and strained Bitcoin mining profitability following the 2024 halving and price declines.
The largest loan facility ever in the sector, CoreWeave‘s $8.5 billion GPU-backed deal, highlights the growing ‘ComputeFi’ trend as Bitcoin miners pivot. This shift is partly a response to the collapse of the 2021 mining boom, where falling Bitcoin prices and surging hashrate hurt profitability.
Newer mining hardware, including Nvidia’s GPUs, can be easily repurposed for the ballooning AI sector. As a result, most miners with the latest hardware have partially or wholly moved into AI with relative ease.
Miners like MARA have been forced to liquidate Bitcoin holdings to fund their transitions. In contrast, players such as CoreWeave have successfully utilized their computing racks directly as loan collateral.
According to research, ‘ComputeFi’ has solved the speculative nature of the ‘MinerFi’ problem. Despite crypto going mainstream, Bitcoin mining sustainability has been strained by the 2024 halving and a pullback in price.
Daily miner revenue has fallen from over $50 million to below $40 million in the current distressed environment. This makes funding an AI pivot strictly from Bitcoin revenues a significant challenge for active miners.
CoreWeave reported $5.13 billion in revenue for 2025, marking 168% annual growth. MARA, which partially shifted to AI, generated $907 million in revenue but also suffered a $1.3 billion loss on its Bitcoin holdings.
Given the declining revenue from Bitcoin mining, the ongoing shift to AI among public miners may not ease soon. The model of using computing hardware for large-scale financing appears to be gaining traction.
