Bitcoin network hits record level of power, but falling profits push miners to AI
A bitcoin sign is seen in the main hall during the Bitcoin 2024 conference at Music City Center July 26, 2024 in Nashville, Tennessee.
Jon Cherry | Getty Images
It was a week of extremes for bitcoin enthusiasts.
On the plus side, the cryptocurrency rose 12% in the past seven days and the network hash rate hit an all-time high. Hash rate refers to the collective computing power of all miners in the bitcoin network, and the recent high suggests there have never been more miners online, actively securing the network.
At the same time, another key metric this week showed it’s increasingly difficult to make money in the mining business. Investment bank Jefferies wrote in a report that crypto mining was “significantly” less profitable in August. The average daily revenue per exahash, or income per miner, fell by 11.8% from the prior month, Jefferies said.
As bitcoin becomes more of an established, and even mainstream part of the economy, the days of easy money appear to be in the rearview mirror. Institutional capital has poured in since the SEC approved spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds in January, and the bitcoin network is more robust than ever, held together by a vast and decentralized network of miners securing transactions with the help of large banks of machines.
But more people — and their powerful machines — are vying for smaller rewards.
In April, the bitcoin code automatically cut new issuance of the world’s largest cryptocurrency in half, an event that occurs roughly every four years to create scarcity. The halving historically precedes a wave of bankruptcies among bitcoin mining firms, which are suddenly generating much less revenue with the same level of operating costs.
Bitcoin miners are getting hammered by Wall Street.
Marathon Digital is down nearly 30% in 2024, while Riot Platforms has fallen 53%. The price of bitcoin, meanwhile, is up about 44% this year.
Jefferies said North American publicly traded mining firms minted a smaller share of new bitcoin in August compared to July, falling to 19.9% of the total network. They’re still spending on equipment upgrades, meaning efficiency is improving but economics are getting worse.
Marathon CEO Fred Thiel told CNBC that, due to the upgrade cycle, machines are able to hash twice as much as previous models with the same energy use.
“No need to add sites or power, just upgrade systems,” Thiel said.
Riot CEO Jason Les is as bullish as ever on the future of bitcoin despite the challenging economic conditions. He said “bitcoin is the most sound money in the world,” and “low-cost mining is an efficient way to get exposure to it.”
Not all miners are feeling the pinch. Companies like Core Scientific, which emerged from bankruptcy in January, are finding ways to use their massive infrastructure to power artificial intelligence and high-performance computing (HPC).
Last month, Core announced an expanded deal worth $6.7 billion with CoreWeave, an Nvidia-backed startup that’s providing the chipmaker’s graphics processing units (GPUs) for running AI models.
In a note this week, Bernstein singled out Core Scientific as the best-performing publicly traded bitcoin miner, noting that of the miners that have diversified into AI and HPC, Core is the “only one with a material co-location contract with a leading GPU Cloud provider.”
Core has more than doubled in value since its return to the stock market and now has a market cap of close to $3 billion.
“Our facilities were developed to be multi-use for not only just bitcoin mining, but also for the transition that we’re doing right now to high-performance computing,” Core CEO Adam Sullivan told CNBC.
Bernstein added that if Core executes all of its 700 megawatt capacity that it’s allocated to AI and HPC, it would make the company the third-largest data center company listed in the U.S.
“It’s really about the next three years in terms of where the opportunity set truly lies to capture a large portion of the data center market,” Sullivan said. “Every big data center company that exists carved out a niche, just so happens that the niche that bitcoin miners are carving out now are in the largest niche that has ever been found in the data center industry.”
— CNBC’s Talia Kaplan and Jordan Smith contributed to this report.
WATCH: Core Scientific CEO Adam Sullivan on why the company has embraced AI
Los Angeles has officially cut ties with coal. City officials say the Intermountain Power Project (IPP) in Utah – the last coal-fired power plant supplying the US’s second-largest city – went offline just before Thanksgiving.
IPP’s two massive units had a combined capacity of around 1,800 megawatts (MW) when fully operational, and as recently as 2024, they still supplied around 11% of LA’s electricity. The plant sits in Utah’s Great Basin region and powered Southern California for decades. Now, for the first time, none of LA’s power comes from coal.
There’s a political hiccup with IPP, though: the Republican-controlled Utah Legislature blocked the Intermountain Power Agency from fully retiring the coal units this year, ordering that they can’t be disconnected or decommissioned. But despite that mandate, no buyers have stepped forward to keep the outdated coal units online.
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) is transitioning to newly built, hydrogen-capable generating units at the same IPP location, part of a modernization effort called IPP Renewed. These new units currently run on natural gas, but they’re designed to burn a blend of natural gas and up to 30% green hydrogen, and eventually 100% green hydrogen. LADWP plans to start adding green hydrogen to the fuel mix in 2026.
“L.A.’s coal divestment is not just about discontinuing the use of coal to power our city – it’s about building a clean energy economy that benefits every Angeleno. This milestone will further accelerate our transition to 100 percent clean energy by 2035,” said Mayor Karen Bass.
To reach that goal, LA is investing heavily in solar, wind, battery storage, and local programs that expand rooftop solar and energy efficiency.
One of the city’s biggest milestones was reached in August with the completion of the Eland Solar-plus-Storage Center – a massive project that pairs 758 megawatts of solar with 300 MW/1,200 MWh of battery storage. It’s one of the largest solar-plus-storage plants in the country, capable of powering more than 260,000 Los Angeles households. Bringing Eland online helped push LADWP’s power supply past 60% clean energy in 2025.
Read more: In a first, renewables generate more power than coal globally
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![Kia's small EV drops its camo, plus a sneak peek at the interior [Video]](https://i0.wp.com/electrek.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/12/Kia-EV2-spotted-camo.jpeg?resize=1200,628&quality=82&strip=all&ssl=1)
Kia’s most affordable electric SUV will be here in just over a month. Ahead of its debut, the EV2 was spotted with light camo, offering our best look yet.
Kia EV2 looks more like an SUV with less camo
Just days after Kia confirmed the EV2 will debut at the Brussels Motor Show on January 9, 2026, the small electric SUV was spotted in Europe with barely any camo.
The EV2 is a fully electric B-segment SUV set to be Kia’s new entry-level EV. It will sit below the EV3, which is already the UK’s most popular retail electric vehicle and among the top-sellers in Europe.
“With the EV2, we reaffirm our commitment to make electric mobility truly accessible to a broader audience,” Kia Europe president and CEO, Marc Hedrich, said earlier this month.
Despite its compact size, the EV2 looks and feels much bigger in person. It has a similar high-riding, blocky design as Kia’s latest electric SUVs, such as the EV5 and three-row EV9.
In the teaser images Kia posted a few days ago, the EV2 was shown under a drape with a design that looked nearly identical to the EV2 Concept from earlier this year.
Now, we can finally confirm it. The Kia EV2 was recently spotted in Europe in light camo, rocking a tall, SUV-like stance. The latest image from KindelAuto gives us a solid look at its profile, which still resembles a mini EV5 or EV9.
Kia will begin EV2 production alongside the EV4 hatch at its Zilina, Slovakia, plant shortly after its debut at the Brussels Motor Show next month, ramping up output throughout 2026.
Although Kia has yet to reveal specifics, the EV2 is expected to be about 4,000 mm (157″) long, or slightly smaller than the EV3 at 4,300 mm (169.3″). It will be closer in size to the Hyundai Inster EV.
Prices are expected to start at around €30,000 ($35,000) in Europe, given that the EV3 starts at about €36,000 ($42,000).
A new video from HealerTV offers a glimpse of the interior. Although the EV2 concept included sliding benches, detachable seats, cushions, and other innovative features to unlock more space, the interior looks more like Kia’s latest EVs, such as the EV3, EV4, and EV5.
You can see it has a standard armrest and a separate storage spot, similar to the EV5. The door handles are about the same as those in the EV3 and EV4.
Although it’s just a preview since the windows were covered, the second row looks about the same as the EV3. The reporter mentioned a “family look” similar to Kia’s other electric vehicles.
The compact electric SUV is expected to ride on Hyundai’s E-GMP platform, with similar battery pack options as the EV3. The EV3 is available with 58.3 kWh and 81.4 kWh battery options, delivering a WLTP range of 410 km (255 miles) and 560 km (348 miles), respectively.
The EV2 will debut at the Brussels Motor Show on January 9, 2026. Kia will hold a press conference at 10:40 am CET to introduce the new entry-level EV. Check back for updates leading up to the event.
For those in the US, sadly, the EV2 is not expected to make the trip overseas. However, Kia is offering generous discounts of over $10,000 off its current EV lineup.
Interested in a test drive? We can help you get started. You can use the links below to find Kia’s electric vehicles near you.
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Nissan is looking for a partner to co-develop new EVs with as it struggles to turn things around, but only on one condition.
Nissan is still looking for EV partners
After its plans with Honda fell through earlier this year, Nissan is still hoping to find a partnership to build next-generation EVs.
As part of its recovery plan, Re:Nissan, the automaker has already announced significant job cuts, factory closures, and other extreme measures to cut costs as it looks to return to profitability.
Nissan has been actively seeking new partnerships, but it won’t settle for “just a transaction.” Speaking to Automotive News at an event earlier this month, Ponz Pandikuthira, chief product and planning officer for Nissan Americas, said that although it was open to partnering, it would have to be a two-way street.
“We would not engage with a partner just to buy a vehicle, or platform, or piece of tech,” Pandikuthira said, adding, “That’s what makes it a long-term commitment instead of just a transaction.”
Pandikuthira suggested Nissan is already in talks with several potential partners, including Honda and Mitsubishi. Sources told Automotive News in October that Nissan was in discussions with Ford and Stellantis to supply a new electrified SUV based on the Rogue.
The sources claimed the electrified Rogue would use Nissan’s new e-POWER hybrid system. According to Pandikuthira, Nissan could also use the next-gen Frontier platform, set to underpin the new Pathfinder.
So what would the partnership look like? The product and planning boss said it could involve automakers either buying the technology or Nissan building rebadged vehicles, but the partner would still need to use its tech. It would be a two-way commitment, not just a transaction.
Either way, Nissan will need to move quickly. It already cut the Ariya electric SUV from its 2026 lineup in the US, and is reportedly struggling to sell the new LEAF.
We know we need economies of scale for an EV, and we would be open to a discussion with another partner to jointly develop an EV,” Pandikuthira stressed. That could involve a family of SUVs, Nissan’s product boss suggested.
Electrek’s Take
Starting at $29,990 with over 300 miles of range, Nissan says the 2026 LEAF has “the lowest starting MSRP for any new EV currently on sale in the US.” If it’s already having a tough time selling the low-cost LEAF EV, it could be a long road ahead for Nissan.
Like Hyundai and General Motors, which announced plans to co-develop five new vehicles, combining resources with a new partnership could help Nissan reduce development costs, leverage new tech, and achieve economies of scale.
What are your thoughts on a Nissan EV partnership? Which company would be the best fit? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
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