Bitcoin Miners See Opportunity in AI, But Also Face Challenges

As Bitcoin mining becomes more competitive and difficult, industry leaders are looking to optimize their use of AI data centers, which is no easy task.

At the Mining Disrupt conference in Fort Lauderdale, Florida this week, leading mining companies noted that the transition to AI requires skill and caution.

“In the long term, [AI] is a big trend,” said Paul Lee, CEO of mining technology provider Fog Hashing, during his presentation. “We can’t ignore it. You [miners] have a lot to do this year, given that the demand for AI computing power is huge.”

In recent months, following the recent halving that cut mining rewards in half and amid a slump in the cryptocurrency market, Bitcoin miners have been looking to cut their costs.

Bitcoin miners have been looking closely at the possibilities of AI for some time. Both fields require significant energy resources and are constantly looking for better deals to buy electricity. Bitcoin recently traded around $87,202, in line with its price over the past 24 hours, though it is far from the record above $108,000 set in January, according to data provider CoinGecko.

When the value of Bitcoin falls and mining new digital coins does not generate enough income, some miners are redirecting their infrastructure to meet the growing demand for AI.

With their experience in data centers, they can operate faster and more efficiently than other AI facilities. “It’s a bit like mining,” Hiveon Energy CEO Andrey Garanin told Decrypt . “A data center is a data center.”

Recruiting staff is also not difficult – the industry has been around for a long time, and Bitcoin mining is a relatively new direction, although, according to miners, there are certain problems.

“From an infrastructure perspective, it’s completely different,” Shannon Squires of Compass Mining told Decrypt . “A Bitcoin mining rig is like a chicken coop compared to a tier-3 data center — it’s completely different,” he added, noting that the setup was more complex and that heating, ventilation, and air conditioning were necessary to keep things running.

Bitcoin miners may occasionally shut down when they want to reduce the load on the power grid. Temporary shutdowns are not a problem because the network is decentralized.

But that's not an option for an AI data center, Squires noted. “We [as Bitcoin miners] are susceptible to interruptions, whereas a traditional data center has to be on 100% of the time,” he added, noting that UPSs come at a significant cost.

Edited by James Rubin

Source: cryptonews.net