Bitcoin miners are betting on AI over crypto
The Indicator from Planet Money
NPR
4.7 • 9.5K Ratings
🗓️ 10 December 2025
⏱️ 10 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
If you want to make Bitcoin, you need powerful computers and a lot of energy. Well, it turns out the same infrastructure needed for Bitcoin mining is pretty valuable in the era of AI. Today on the show, why some miners are starting to throw in the towel on crypto in favor of supporting AI infrastructure.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | NPR. |
| 0:02.0 | This is the indicator from Planet Money. I'm Darym Woods. |
| 0:14.0 | And I'm Stephen Besaha. |
| 0:16.0 | There's a big shift happening right now in the world of Bitcoin. |
| 0:20.0 | And no, we are not talking about how much the price has plummeted in recent months. |
| 0:24.8 | We're talking about a deeper shift, one happening underground that gets to the core of how |
| 0:29.0 | the cryptocurrency works. |
| 0:31.1 | We're going into the Bitcoin mines. |
| 0:33.6 | The thing about Bitcoin is that it does not have one group in charge of making new coins, |
| 0:38.6 | like the US Treasury for the dollar. |
| 0:41.1 | Instead, the so-called Bitcoin miners solve complex math problems on computers, |
| 0:46.7 | and if they're successful, a Bitcoin is born. |
| 0:49.4 | It used to be that pretty much anyone could do this, in their bedroom even. |
| 0:53.2 | But you need pretty powerful computers and a lot of energy, so today it's mostly done |
| 0:58.0 | by companies with big data centers. |
| 1:00.0 | But recently, those companies are shifting away from Bitcoin mining to a new technology. |
| 1:07.0 | Yes, it is the great disruptor of the entire economy, and it's shaking up Bitcoin too. |
| 1:13.1 | They're switching to AI. |
| 1:15.3 | AI comes for us all. |
| 1:17.5 | So on today's show, why these companies are putting down their virtual pickaxes and becoming landlords in the world of AI. |
| 1:30.2 | There's a lot going on right now. |
| 1:32.6 | Mounting economic inequality, threats to democracy, environmental disaster, the sour |
... |
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